14 | HR Connection
Paid Sick Leave and Extended FMLA In the Age of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
is NO waiting period to become eligible to utilize this benefit. Employees are eligible immediately upon commencing their employment. There are six reasons that an employee may qualify for Emergency Paid Sick Leave and for each of them there must be work available and the employee must be unable to work or telework because:
Jennifer Hall, Associate Attorney
A
s a full-fledged Gen Xer, I was pleased to see that R.E.M’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” had cracked the top 100 songs again. It is unfortunate that the reason the song has had a resurgence is because it is anthemic of the impact COVID-19 is having on the world.
Under Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL), an employee becomes eligible for leave on their first day of employment; however, the extended Family and Medical Leave Act (EFML) is a little different. For an employee to be eligible for EFML, the employee must have been employed for thirty (30) days on the date the employee requests EFML leave 1. EMERGENCY PAID SICK LEAVE (EPSL)
As you know, Congress and the President recently approved and signed into effect the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and for purposes of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FML)– at least until December 31, 2020, could this be the End of the World As We Know It for FML?!
The Emergency Paid Sick Leave portion of the act provides that as long as an employer has work available, if an employee is unable to work or telework for one of the six reasons listed below, the employee is entitled to paid leave at a commensurate rate and subject to the limits I will discuss later in the article.
There are two parts to the FFCRA: Emergency Paid Sick Leave and Extended Family and Medical Leave. Both sections are only effective from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 (at this time, unless extended). While both are applicable to public employers like school districts, they each have their own different eligibility criteria when it comes to employees.
Full time employees are eligible for up to eighty (80) hours of emergency paid sick leave while part time employees are eligible for the average hours they work over a two week period if their schedule is regular and known, or the average hours worked in a six month period if their schedules are variable. For the emergency paid sick leave portion of the act, unlike for the EFML section, there
1. Employee is subject to a quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19; 2. Employee is advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine because of COVID-19; 3. Employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is seeking a medical diagnosis; 4. Employee is caring for an individual subject to or advised to quarantine or isolate; 5. Employee is caring for a son or daughter whose school or place of care is closed, or child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions; or 6. Employee is experiencing substantially similar conditions as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of Labor and Treasury. If an employee meets criteria 1-3 above, the employee will be eligible for paid leave at 100% of their regular rate not to exceed $511 per day or $5,110 total. If the employee meets criteria 4-6 above, then the employee will be eligible for 2/3 their regular rate of pay not to exceed $200 per day or $2,000 total. Full time employees are entitled to that pay for up to 80 hours, while part time employees are entitled to that pay for up to the number of hours they generally work in a two week period.
As will be explained later, the EFML only applies if an employee cannot work or telework because they have need to care for a son or daughter whose school or place of care is closed, or child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions. However, if the employee is unable to work or telework because of any other reason the employee may still qualify for traditional FML leave, however, to be eligible for FML the employee still has to have worked 1250 hours in a 12 month period as determined by the district. 1
