Families First Coronavirus Response Act Emergency Paid Sick Leave

During this nationwide quarantine period, one option for employers is to place workers on paid sick leave.  The Families First Coronavirus Response Act Emergency Paid Sick Leave requires employers of fewer than 500 employees to provide family and medical leave and paid sick leave to eligible employees for specified COVID-19 related events.  It becomes effective on April 1, 2020 and expires on December 31, 2020.

What we know:

Coverage Details

• All private employers with fewer than 500 employees .
• All employees, no matter how long employed.
• Employer can exclude employees who are health care providers or emergency responders.
• Secretary of Labor may issue regulations to exempt employers under 50 if it would jeopardize viability as a going concern.

Uses 

1. If subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order.
2. When advised by health care provider to self-quarantine.
3. For seeking medical diagnosis for symptoms of COVID-19. 
4. To care for an individual who qualifies under #1 or #2 (2/3 pay). 
5. To care for child if school or place of care is closed (2/3 pay).
6. When experiencing other substantially similar condition (2/3 pay).

Amount 

• Full time employees get 80 hours (2/3 pay for uses #4, 5, 6).
• Part time employees get the number of hours worked on average over a 2-week period (2/3 pay for uses #4, 5, 6).
• Caps of $511/day and $5,110 total for uses #1, 2, 3.
• Cap of $200/day and $2,000 total for uses #4, 5, 6.

Paid leave is calculated as follows:

Employees with Fixed Work Schedules: Two-thirds of an employee’s regular rate of pay multiplied by the number of hours the employee would otherwise be normally scheduled to work

Employees with Schedules that Vary Week-to-Week: Two-thirds of an employee’s regular rate of pay multiplied by the average number of hours the employee was scheduled per day over the 6-month period ending on the date on which the employee takes leave, including hours for which the employee took leave of any type. (If the employee did not work over such period, the reasonable expectation of the employee at the time of hiring of the average number of hours per day that the employee would normally be scheduled to work.)

OnePoint Can Help

OnePoint features a dynamic time management engine with the flexibility to easily add time off reasons including new designations fto track paid sick leave provision allotted by FFFMLA.  Rules can be configured for the time off codes to provide detailed reporting on utilization and employer costs. Employee pay stub illustration eases the management of compliance of state and federal laws and management of your company's absenteeism.  

Disclaimer:

The information above has been gathered from resources available to us at the time. Please check on the facts on your own before making any decisions based on this information.