On March 26, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a second set of FAQs to address some of the fundamentally important questions that employers have been asking about new paid sick and FMLA leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which goes into effect on April 1, 2020.
The second FAQs elaborate in some areas on the first set of FAQs issued by the DOL and in other areas provide a first look at the agency’s thinking about how the new paid leave laws are intended to be implemented by employers. Some of the key questions addressed by the new FAQs are the following:
Which employers must be included in the count to determine whether you are above or below the 500-employee threshold;
- See FAQ ## 2, 3, and 5.
What small employers (fewer than 50 employees) must do to take advantage of the small business exemption to providing paid sick and FMLA leave;
- See FAQ # 4.
How to calculate the number of hours of paid sick leave to which an employee may be entitled;
- See FAQ # 5
How to calculate the applicable rate of pay for paid sick and FMLA leave;
- See FAQ ## 6 – 8.
Whether paid sick and FMLA is retroactively applicable prior to April 1;
- See FAQ ## 11 and 13.
What records must employers keep related to paid sick and FMLA leave provided to employees;
- See FAQ ## 15 and 16.
Whether or under what circumstances can paid leave be used intermittently;
- See FAQ ## 20 – 22.
Whether an employee may use paid sick leave and paid FMLA leave concurrently;
- See FAQ #31.
What happens to an employee’s paid leave entitlement if the employer’s workplace closes or employees are furloughed; and
- See FAQ ## 23 – 27.
Whether or under what circumstances employers are required to continue an employee’s health coverage during paid leave?
- See FAQ # 30.
