Workers forced to leave jobs because of coronavirus to get paid under new Senate bill

Lawmakers signed off on new requirements Wednesday outlining paid sick leave for employees during a pandemic like the coronavirus.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 90-8, NPR reported. It now heads to the president’s desk.

FFCRA includes a slew of provisions covering coronavirus testing and increased Medicaid funding.

But what does it mean for Americans who are unable to work — for any number of reasons — as COVID-19 continues to spread across the United States?

Emergency Paid Sick Leave

The bill provides emergency paid sick leave to workers who meet a set of requirements.

According to Holly Griffin Goodman, a labor and employment lawyer at Gunster, it applies to all employers with fewer than 500 employees.

“That’s going to cover a large chunk of small and mid-size businesses as well as public entities,” she told McClatchy News, with the idea being large companies already have paid sick leave or a similarly robust program.

Under the bill, Goodman said full-time employees are eligible for up to two weeks, or 80 hours, of paid sick leave if they are unable to work at the office or from home because:

• the employee is quarantined, either by the government or a health care provider

• the employee is experiencing symptoms and is seeking a diagnosis

• the employee is caring for someone under quarantine

• the employee is caring for a child because schools or places of care have closed

• the employee is experiencing conditions substantially similar to the symptoms exhibited by the coronavirus

Part-time workers are also entitled to paid sick leave according to the “average number of hours that the employee works over a two-week period,” Forbes reported.

Workers are entitled to paid leave regardless of how long they’ve been employed, Goodman said.

But there are “some intricacies,” she said, depending on how the employee uses their paid leave.

If the leave is used for themselves because the employee is quarantined or experiencing symptoms, the FFCRA requires the worker receive be paid the full rate of pay capped at $511 per day, according to Goodman.

If the employee is using the paid leave to care for someone else, she said the worker is entitled to two-thirds of the regular rate of pay capped at $200 a day.

Expanding the FMLA

The FFCRA also narrowly expands the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), applying it to all employers with fewer than 500 employees.

Goodman said it also gives the U.S. Department of Labor the right to issue regulations designed to protect small businesses that employ fewer than 50 workers.

“But until that happens, all with less than 500 will be subject to the expansion,” she told McClatchy.

The expansion covers anyone who has been employed for at least 30 days and is unable to work — either at their place of business or at home — because they are caring for a child under the age of 18 whose school or other means of care has closed, Goodman said.

Forbes reported it would also apply to employees staying home because of coronavirus or caring for a family member under quarantine.

Those employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave under the act, the first 10 days (or two weeks) of which would be unpaid.

However, employees can use paid time off or sick leave during that time.

After that, Goodman said employers must pay the employee two-thirds of their regular rate of pay, which is capped at $200 a day or $10,000 total.

The FMLA, as it stands, allows for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, she told McClatchy.

“Typically FMLA wouldn’t cover you having to care for an otherwise healthy child — only time off for yourself or family members with serious health conditions,” she said. “The expansion will help employees take off that time and use the job-protected leave and receive some pay for it, which is not required under the original FMLA.”

Shoring up resources for the unemployed

Another section of the FFCRA provides additional resources for state agencies tackling thousands of applications for unemployment benefits.

Goodman said the idea is to “shore up their systems if they need to hire more employees and work on their website to be able to process unemployment compensation requests.”

The bill is slated to go into effect within 15 days, she said. It doesn’t mention a separate effective date for funding provided to state agencies.

Potential drawbacks

Some lawmakers were concerned for small business unable to afford the cost of paid leave.

An earlier version of the bill was more expansive with employee protections, Goodman said. But the rolled-back version given to the Senate provides tax credits for businesses required to pay employees.

“It’s an attempt to balance interests,” she told McClatchy.