On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201, “FFCRA”).  Among other provisions, the Act requires that private employers with less than 500 employees and almost all public employers provide essentially two weeks of emergency paid sick leave and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave for certain absences related to Coronavirus (COVID-19).  The FMLA leave is unpaid for the first 10 days and paid at a rate of 2/3 of the employee’s wages after that period.  The FFCRA’s paid leave provisions will become effective on April 1, 2020, and will apply to leave taken between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020.  The Act also provides that “covered employers” (i.e., private employers and self-employed individuals under the new law) will have access to tax credits related to this additional paid leave. 

H.R. 6201 is available here. 

In addition, on March 19, 2020, the law firm of Ice Miller summarized the Act’s provisions which provides that employers will need to: 1) prepare for the Act’s effective date by updating their current FMLA and/or medical leave policies; 2) consider how the Act will affect their financial status; and 3) create a method of tracking any payments made under the Act to best take advantage of the available tax credits.  The summary is available here. 

The Department of Labor (DOL) also provided guidance information in its question and answer document about the leaves required under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).  The DOL document is available here.