On Wednesday night, March 18, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act). This law provides employees with paid family leave and paid sick leave if they (or their families) are affected by COVID-19. Below are the highlights.
The new laws apply only to employers with fewer than 500 employees.
The Act amends the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to cover, as a qualifying need, issues related to a public health emergency. This amendment is temporary (extending through December 31, 2020), and is limited to situations where employees are unable to work (or telework) because they need to care for a child (under 18) due to school or child care being closed/unavailable in light of the COVID-19 emergency.
Employees will be entitled to additional family leave as follows:
Other significant changes to the FMLA included in the Act are the following:
These amendments will be effective April 1, 2020.
The Act also provides employees with emergency sick leave pay that is specific to COVID-19.
Employees will be entitled to paid sick leave for the following reasons:
The amount of emergency paid sick leave is as follows:
Other significant requirements of the law include the following:
These provisions will also be effective April 1, 2020, and will expire December 31, 2020.
Finally, the Act allows employers to take a 100 percent tax credit for the payments made under the FMLA and paid sick leave provisions as long as certain qualifications are met. Companies should consult with their accountants to get the full benefit of these credits.
These new laws are being implemented on short notice and may have a significant impact on your business. Day Pitney is available to help guide you through this challenge. If you have any questions on the above and how it may affect you, please contact us.
UPDATED: On March 18, Governor Murphy signed New Jersey's Clean Stormwater and Flood Reduction Act into law as P.L. 2019, c. 42. The tax involved may be established on a town-by-town basis so property owners should take notice as to whether their individual municipality creates a stormwater utility and enacts a tax to support it.
For more Day Pitney alerts and articles related to the impact of COVID-19, as well as information from other reliable sources, please visit our COVID-19 Resource Center.
COVID-19 DISCLAIMER: As you are aware, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, things are changing quickly and the effect, enforceability and interpretation of laws may be affected by future events. The material set forth in this document is not an unequivocal statement of law, but instead represents our best interpretation of where things stand as of the date of first publication. We have not attempted to address the potential impacts of all local, state and federal orders that may have been issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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