DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ISSUES REVISED RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT
By: R. Eddie Wayland
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
On April 1, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its interim regulations in connection with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), as title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations part 826. Recently the DOL published revised updated regulations, which made corrections to both the preamble and to multiple various sections of the regulations for the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act under the FFCRA. While the majority of these corrections affirm much of the advice the DOL had previously provided regarding the FFCRA, significant additional guidance and clarification was also provided on many important topics. These more significant changes are summarized and addressed below.
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR CALLS AN AUDIBLE IN LATEST GUIDANCE, SUGGESTS MANY EMPLOYEES NOT ELIGIBLE FOR PAID LEAVE
By: R. Eddie Wayland
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
After many states, cities, and counties issued “safer-at-home” orders directing all businesses not deemed “essential” to close for 14 days, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) updated its preliminary guidance on the implementation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), accessible here. An important takeaway from the updated guidance is that employers whose businesses are subject to a government shutdown are not required to pay the emergency sick leave or expanded family and medical leave, pursuant to the FFCRA, to their employees.
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ESTABLISHES APRIL 1 EFFECTIVE DATE AND PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON THE FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT
By: R. Eddie Wayland
Thursday, March 26, 2020
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has posted a “Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers” summary on their website, which can be accessed here. This is an attempt by the DOL to answer some preliminary questions related to the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), which will bring expanded emergency family and medical leave, and also paid sick leave, for many employees across the country.
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PRESIDENT TRUMP SIGNS FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT INTO LAW, REQUIRING MANY EMPLOYERS TO PROVIDE PAID LEAVE AND EXPANDING FMLA FOR MANY EMPLOYERS
By: R. Eddie Wayland
Thursday, March 19, 2020
The novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (“COVID-19”) emerged in Wuhan, China late last year and has since caused a large-scale global pandemic that has seen the virus spread to more than 100 countries in the span of only a few months. The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States was on January 14, 2020; by March 18, 2020 there were more than 7,000 confirmed cases in the United States alone. To help alleviate the pressures placed on businesses, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) (the “Bill”). On March 16, 2020 the House of Representatives passed an amended version of the bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 90 to 8. A link to the Bill can be found here. President Trump signed the Bill into law late in the evening on March 18, 2020. The law will go into effect within 15 days (approximately April 2, 2020) and will remain in effect until December 31, 2020.