Families First Coronavirus Response Act
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) has
passed the House and is now in the Senate.
There is a push among Senate leaders to have a vote as early as today,
March 18, 2020. Part of this bill
modifies the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for the current COVID-19
pandemic. Several changes to FMLA are
being proposed:
- Eligibility waiting period for FMLA would go from 12 months to 30 days
- FMLA currently guarantees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualifying reasons. With FFCRA, leaves related to COVID-19 would still be 12 weeks. The first 2 weeks (14 days) would be unpaid. Employees could utilize accrued but not used paid leave, if available, during these 2 weeks. The other 10 weeks would be paid at 2/3 the employee’s regular rate.
- Complying with a quarantine, caring for an at-risk family member, or caring for a child who is out of school due to COVID-19 would be qualifying reasons for FMLA leave.
- Currently FMLA applies to businesses with more than 50 employees. The FFCRA covers any employer with fewer than 500 employees. There could be exemptions issued by the Secretary of Labor for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, but that is not part of the bill at this point.
If the bill is passed by the Senate, most likely there will be some modifications. We will post more information once the legislation is finalized. If you have specific questions regarding this
bill and how it will impact your business, please call the Human Resources
Department at Integrity HR Management, LLC.
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