Coronavirus Update 4-7-2020 number 2: FFCRA loopholes (and another Zoominar)

Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have sent a scathing letter to Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia calling out the DOL for contradictions they see between the text of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the agency’s interpretive guidance.

Among the issues that they red-flagged:

Coronavirus Update 4-7-2020: What does OSHA have to say about coronavirus for employers?

OSHA, the federal agency responsible for health and safety, has been all over the coronavirus pandemic, providing a wealth of resources for employers. 

That said, OSHA does not have a specific standard addressing viral pandemics. Instead, it regulates this outbreak via its general duty clause: “Each employer shall furnish to each of [its] employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.”

So what steps should employers take to furnish employees a workplace safe from coronavirus—a hazard that is causing or is likely to cause death or serious physical harm?

Coronavirus Update 4-6-2020 number 2: A 4th set of FAQs from the DOL on the FFCRA (and another Zoominar)

If you thought the DOL was done publishing FAQs on the paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act with the publications of last week’s regulations, boy do I have a surprise for you.

Over the weekend, the DOL published its 4th set of FAQs discussing the FFCRA (nos. 60 - 79).

What has the DOL clarified in its latest set of FAQs?

Coronavirus Update 4-6-2020: We CARES about unemployment

The past two weeks have seen a record 10 million new unemployment claims. This number does not even include many of the millions more who have had their hours or wages cut as businesses continue to struggle with the realities of operating in a world turned upside down by coronavirus. Sadly, we should expect this situation to get a lot worse before it starts to get better.

Thankfully for each worker unemployed or underemployed as a result of coronavirus, the CARES Act provides significant financial relief. It contains the following seven unemployment expansion and enhancement provisions.

Coronavirus Update 4-3-2020: I killed the Easter Bunny

My family has been self-quarantined for the past three weeks. We did so before Ohio ordered people to stay at home, and before anyone started talking about social distancing and flattening the curve.

We chose to do this because our son is high-risk with a heart defect and asthma, and none of us wanted to get him sick.

We take our responsibility to halt the spread of this killer virus very seriously. We view it not only as a responsibility to ourselves not to become ill, but also to society as a whole not to spread it to others in the event we are silent or pre-symptomatic carriers. We know that one can transmit the virus for up to 14 days after exposure and before any symptoms appear; we’ve not been closer than six feet from anyone but the four of us living this house for weeks.

Coronavirus Update 4-2-2020: The DOL’s FFCRA regulations contain some BIG changes (and other Zoominar)

Yesterday afternoon, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited (as in, for the past two weeks) regulations to the paid family leave and paid sick leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. You can download them and read them for yourself (all 124 pages) here.

Much is unchanged from the Act itself and the three sets of FAQs (one, two, and three) the DOL published over the past week. 

There are, however, many key differences in how we have been interpreting the FFCRA since it became law.

I will discuss these regulations and field your questions on another Zoominar (this time, fingers crossed, free of Zoombombs), tomorrow, Friday, April 3, at 10 am ET. You can participate here: https://zoom.us/j/976011327

I’ve also summarized the key regulatory differences and highlights below.

Coronavirus Update 4-1-2020 number 2: DOL’s FFCRA regulations are out!

The Department of Labor's FFCRA regulations are out. And they are significant.

If you thought you understood this Act, you don't.

Among the key interpretations:

• Government stay at home and shelter in place orders qualify for leave.
• Intermittent leave is very limited.
• The scope of people for whom an employee can provide care and qualify for leave is narrow.
• An employee cannot take childcare related leave if someone else is available to care for their child(ren).

There is a lot more to digest, and I'll have a full summary of all of the key changes in the morning. For now, you can read all 124 pages of the regs here, or just wait for me (and the rest of the employment law bloggers) to publish our summaries.

Coronavirus Update 4-1-2020: The mechanics of the tax credit for paid family and sick leave under the FFCRA

One of the questions I have received the most since the passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is how employers claim the tax credit available under the Act for paid leave provided to employees.

Late yesterday, the IRS published a detailed list of FAQs explaining all of the mechanics of this tax credit. I want to focus on the key employment law piece of these FAQ, how an employer should substantiate its eligibility for tax credits, i.e., the documentation you need to keep.

The IRS discusses this important issue in Questions 44 – 46. I’ll break it all down for you here.

Coronavirus Update 3-31-2020: Employers, PLEASE don’t take your employees’ stimulus checks (plus video of yesterday’s Zoominar)

One employer is an anomaly, two is a trend that must be stopped.

Last week, I nominated for the Worst Employer of 2020 an unnamed national restaurant chain that was reported to be stealing (the company called it “absorbing”) its employees’ CARES Act stimulus checks by reducing their scheduled hours in a pro-rata amount.

Now, another employer has been outed with similar plans.

Coronavirus Update 3-30-2020: DOL FAQs on the FFCRA, the threequel (and a Zoominar reminder) #coronavirus

A quick reminder that I’ll be live on Zoom today from 1 - 2 pm ET discussing all things Coronavirus, including the DOL’s most recent additions to its Families First Coronavirus Response Act FAQs (part 1 of which I covered here, and part 2 of which I’m covering below).

You can access the Zoominar here: https://zoom.us/j/856368874 (and don’t forget that Norah promised to join for a song at the end).

Now, onto the most recent development—the DOL’s weekend additions to its coronavirus paid family and sick leave FAQs (maybe its last before the law’s 4/1 effective date).

Here’s what the DOL has to say about some very important open issues.

Coronavirus Update 3-27-2020 number 2: More answers from the DOL on the FFCRA, and another Zoominar

Late yesterday, the DOL published a second round of FAQs (numbers 15-37) answering more questions on the operation of paid family and sick leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Here’s what the DOL has to say:

Coronavirus Update 3-27-2020: How are we feeling? #CoronavirusCoping

After a week of self-imposed quarantine in my home, and a week of mandatory sheltering in place by the State, now is as good a time as any to tell everyone how I’m holding up, and also to ask everyone, “How are you?”

First me.

The truth is, I’m not great. I’m tired, I’m stressed, and I’m worried.

Coronavirus Update 3-26-2020 number 2: Is the DOL’s FFCRA notice correct as published?

The speed at which the coronavirus news cycle moves is dizzying.

Is it possible that the DOL’s FFCRA Employee Rights Poster is correct as published, even with it listing a $12,000 cap for paid family leave?

Coronavirus Update 3-26-2020: A coronavirus Q&A and the DOL’s FFCRA notice (with a big ol’ typo)

Yesterday I held my first Zoominar. (Is this an actual word, or did I just make it up?) I opened up my Zoom room for the first 100 people to join and ask any coronavirus-related employment law questions they wanted. I shared #MyQuarantineHaiku (see below), saw some familiar faces, met some new old friends, and answered dozens of questions.

If you weren’t able to join or couldn’t get in, you can watch it here:


Also yesterday, during my Zoominar, the DOL published its required Employee Rights poster for the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. You must post it alongside your other employment law posters no later than April 1, and email it to those employees that are currently working remotely. But you might want to brush up on your PDF editing skills before you do so, because the DOL’s model poster has a big ol’ typo. In describing the paid leave entitlement for employees taking time off to care for children, the DOL lists the maximum dollar cap as $12,000 instead of $10,000. A big mistake, and one we will assume the DOL will fix soon. (Thanks to Eric Meyer for pointing this out to me.) You can also bring it to the DOL’s attention on one of its FFCRA twitter chats, or on the online forum it is hosting.

Two more things. First, I will be hosting another Zoominar this coming Monday, March 30, from 1 – 2 pm. And this time I won’t be caught off guard by the questions about how my daughter’s band, Fake ID, is weathering the coronavirus storm. In fact, she’s promised to join and perform a song for everyone. You’ll be able to access the Zoominar here.

Finally, #MyQuarantineHaiku.

Day-time pajamas

I don’t have hair to pull out 

Night-time pajamas

Be well and stay safe. I’ll see everyone tomorrow.

Coronavirus Update 3-25-2020 number 2: Someone needs to tell the DOL that 15 days from March 18 is April 2, NOT April 1

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act has an effective no later than 15 days after President Trump signed it. He signed in late in the day on March 18. We all did the math, and calculated an effective date of April 2. We all did the math.

Which is why we were all surprised when the DOL published a Q&A yesterday and announced an effective date of April 1.

What is the effective date of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which includes the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act? 

The FFCRA’s paid leave provisions are effective on April 1, 2020, and apply to leave taken between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020.

Apparently, everyone can count to 15 except the Department of Labor.

Coronavirus Update 3-25-2020: The 5th nominee for the “worst employer of 2020” is … the coronavirus stimulus snatcher

Can we just close the poll now and announce today’s nominee the winner? If anyone can verify the identity of this employer I’d love to know who it is.

Alison Green, over at Ask a Manager, provides the truly awful details.

I work in an administrative role at a national restaurant chain. 

I just got off of a conference call with corporate in which they told us that if the U.S. government sends us the proposed stimulus checks due to Covid 19, they plan to absorb the money we receive by cutting our hours to reflect that amount. In other words, if each person receives a check for $1,200, $1,200 will effectively go back to the company. Is this legal?

Coronavirus Update 3-24-2020 (number 2): I’ll be chatting all things coronavirus tomorrow, Mar. 25, from 12 - 1 ET

There are so many questions about all things coronavirus and workplace, I thought I’d try something new for all of my valued readers.

Tomorrow, March 25, from noon through 1 pm ET, I’ll be live on Zoom chatting all things coronavirus.

You can access this live chat here:

https://zoom.us/j/876365113

Space is limited. The room can only handle 100 at a time, and it’s first come, first served. Have your coronavirus questions ready, and I’ll try to get to as many as I can in the hour we have.

I'll also be recording it to share later if you can't get into the chat room.

And, if this is well received I promise I’ll do more. 😉

Coronavirus Update 3-24-2020: Layoffs, furloughs, and group health insurance

The question I’ve received the most in the past week is the difference between a layoff and a furlough. Both are reductions in force caused by economic conditions. There is one key difference.

• A layoff is a permanent job loss, usually with no expectation of recall to full-time employment.
• A furlough is a temporary and short-term reduction of one's hours (in this case down to zero) with an expectation of a return to full-time employment.

One issue that keeps recurring is what happens to employees’ health insurance if they lose their jobs related to coronavirus-related job cuts.

Coronavirus Update 3-23-2020: Frequently Asked Questions about Ohio’s “Stay at Home” Order

Effective Monday, March 23, 2020, at 11:59 pm, and continuing through at least April 6, the State of Ohio, via an order of Dr. Amy Acton, Director of the Ohio Department of Health, has closed all non-essential businesses to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Governor DeWine stated that he would reevaluate the April 6 end date as necessary. These closures are mandatory. A copy of the Order is available here.

To help answer your most pressing questions about how this Stay at Home Order impacts your business and your employees, I drafted this FAQ.

For additional information and updates on how Coronavirus will continue to impact your business, bookmark coronaviruslaw.blog or ohioemployerlawblog.com, or subscribe via RSS or email.

Coronavirus Update 3-21-2020: Treasury, IRS and Labor announce plan to implement Coronavirus-related paid leave for workers and tax credits for businesses

The Department of Treasury, the Department of Labor, and the IRS announced impending regulations that will help covered businesses navigate the paid family and sick leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, including available tax credits, the small employer exemption, and a 30-day non-enforcement grace period.