The Secretary of Labor (“Secretary”) has issued temporary regulations implementing Title I of the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) in response to changes made by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).
The FFCRA enacted two new paid leave requirements, which were embodied in two different acts: The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (“EPSLA) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (“EFMLEA”). The EPSLA mandates that covered employers provide two weeks of paid sick leave at a full pay, up to a specified cap, when the employee cannot work because a health care provider told the employee to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns or because the employee is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking medical diagnosis. The EPSLA also provides two weeks of partial paid leave to workers, up to a specified cap, when an employee is unable to work because the employee needs to care for a person subject to a COVID-19 quarantine or because the employee needs to care for the employee’s son or daughter due to school or child care provider closure. The EFMLEA permits certain employees to take up to twelve weeks of expanded FMLA leave with ten of those weeks required to be paid at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay.
The regulations clarify the circumstances when the COVID-19 leaves need to be paid. For example, the regulations state that an employee may take paid sick leave if COVID-19 orders are preventing that employee from working or tele-working. Thus, an employee quarantined who can telework would not be eligible for sick leave. The regulations also clarify that an employee is able to take FMLA leave to take care of children eighteen and over who are incapable of self- care due to mental or physical disability, not just children who are under eighteen.
The FFCRA and the temporary regulations clarifying its provisions end December 31, 2020.
To read more about the FFCRA and the regulations clarifying its provisions, read here.
Authors: Matthew John Markling and the McGown & Markling Team.
Note: This blog entry does not constitute – nor does it contain – legal advice. Legal jurisprudence is like the always changing like the Midwestern weather. As a result, this single blog entry cannot substitute for consultation with a McGown & Markling attorney. If legal advice is needed with respect to a specific factual situation, please feel free to contact a McGown & Markling attorney.