So I was just diagnosed with COVID, but the Under the Weather Team lady that called me told me (I guess from what I understood) that associates ARE NOT covered by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (basically getting paid for up to two weeks if you’re unable to work because you are sick with COVID). Can anyone confirm if this is true?
Here is a summary my team put together (yes this is my site, I’m not trying to promote, just educate. I primarily work with Colorado businesses): https://www.obsidianhr.com/how-the-just-signed-families-first-coronavirus-response-act-affects-you-and-your-employees/
Here is a more in depth legal article: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/covid-19-analysis-covid-19-pandemic-congressional-response-employer-requirements
Bottom line- you must provide leave to employees that are sick, or may be sick. Also those that are taking care of others that are sick. There are limits on the benefits, and *you can get a refundable FICA (social security) tax credit for the money you spend here.
Hope this helps.
I thought I would need to lay-off most of my staff after reading the earlier posts here. This has saved me!
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/treasury-irs-and-labor-announce-plan-to-implement-coronavirus-related-paid-leave-for-workers-and-tax-credits-for-small-and-midsize-businesses-to-swiftly-recover-the-cost-of-providing-coronavirus
What I’ve learned so far:
According to my OB, pregnant women are now classified high risk for COVID by the CDC. For many pregnant women, this should get them 10 extra days of full pay leave according to the FFCRA/CARES act.
It says, “FFCRA requires covered employers to provide eligible employees up to two weeks of paid sick leave at full pay, up to a specified cap, when the employee is unable to work because the employee is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19, has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.”
*I talked to my HR dept (public school teacher) to confirm this. It may not apply to every employer or employee.
My doctor recommends taking this around 37 weeks, or several weeks before estimated delivery, so that the mom doesn’t have Covid when delivering and have to be separated from her baby. Theoretically, it could be taken at any time during pregnancy with a doctor’s note advising self-quarantine.
Right now I’m trying to research more about protecting my newborn afterward, meaning when my husband and I should return to work. My ped and OB both recommended submitting a leave request for the full FMLA 12 weeks (not affected by the 2 FFCRA weeks before birth) because infants are extremely susceptible to respiratory issues (ped compared it to RSV). Right now my husband and I only have 6 weeks paid leave from saved up sick days, so the other 6 would be unpaid. I’m hoping that the school system will offer some sort of pay during that time as well under the second part of the FFCRA, which is two weeks 65% pay to care for a family member that requires isolation.
It states: “The FFCRA also provides up to two weeks of paid sick leave at partial (2/3) pay, up to a specified cap, when an employee is unable to work because of a need to care for an individual subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19 or who has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.”
That would get us to 8 weeks. Currently, I’m unclear on whether someone could qualify for both the first and the second provision, even if they were for totally different reasons.
There is also this third provision: “The FFCRA also requires covered employers to provide up to twelve weeks of expanded family and medical leave, up to ten weeks of which must be paid at 2/3 pay, up to a specified cap,
... keep reading on reddit ➡Is there anyone familiar with the ins and outs of this that could potentially chat with me? My spouse is positive and I’m having a hard time with my workplace.
My wife, who is pregnant, was instructed by her doctor to get tested and quarantine for 14 days after her office found out that one of her coworkers was still clocking in even though they were showing symptoms of COVID and later tested positive for the virus. The owner of the business kept the office running like normal, even wanting the employee to come back to work until their test results were in 🤦🏻♂️ and now a second coworker is out sick awaiting results. When my wife told the owner that she was instructed to quarantine, the owner threatened to fire her if she didn’t submit a doctors note, which we had no problem doing (and kept the original as proof). We brought up the FFCRA and despite everything that the Act states, the owner is still withholding my wife’s pay for the entirety of her quarantine (we kept the email exchange as proof as well).
The employee who tested positive and the one awaiting results don’t seem interested in what they’re entitled to, but my wife is due in a couple of months and two weeks of withheld pay is a setback we weren’t planning on. Other than reporting it to the state department of labor, does anyone have any suggestions on how to peruse this issue further? Maybe any recommendations for an attorney who is familiar with the labor laws?
E: more information; my wife is full time with the company.
TLDR; employee showed up to work with COVID, doctor instructed wife to quarantine, employer is withholding pay.
So a member of staff at my sons (7.5 months) daycare has tested positive for Covid. This person is responsible for dropoffs/pickups, and also occasionally helps out in the infant classroom.
The daycare is not closing but given this person is in contact daily with our son and myself (since I do dropoffs/pickups and discuss issues etc with our sons daily schedule/feeding/naps etc). we are not comfortable sending him at this time. We will be contacting his pediatrician in the morning, and we are expecting they reccomend keeping him home.
I am totally lost about this emergency family leave, so anyone with experience/knowledge please help!
Our situation,
-
both parents working full time at home,
-
we have tried working with our son at home here and there on days where he's had his shots and it has been a disaster. He does not do well playing alone for more than 5-10 minutes, and he is very noisy.. Almost everything ends up falling on me for various reasons.
-
we COULD make it work by adjusting our schedules, so we both still work 40 hours, but 8 hours work ontop of taking care of our son for 6 hours a day, would be a huge hit to both of our mental health
-
I started my new job 2 months ago, but it is contract, so I'm not sure I'm entitled to anything.
-
my husband is permanent, been with his company for a long time, and we know he is entitled to at least 2 weeks (not sure if longer). But he has the higher income so losing 1/3 of that wouldn't be ideal.
-
if I am eligible, is it only one parent who can take the time off, or can we each take 2 weeks of (not at the same time)
-
what if this happens again, or if one of us catches covid, are we able to claim the emergency leave more than once?
I'm sure there is a bunch I'm not even thinking of right now.
The bill: H.R. 6201
The vote (XML): Final vote results for roll call 102
On his Facebook page Congressman Cline states "While I supported last week’s $8.3 billion coronavirus funding bill and applaud the President’s national emergency declaration, I could not vote for a 100+ page, multi-billion dollar bill filled with burdensome regulations and given only 23 minutes to review it."
Related coverage of the vote:
I took off the last two weeks (11/16-12/1) due to my live in girlfriend testing positive for Covid-19. I was under the impression the FFCRA (my company is about 120 people and I am a full time employee) required my company to grant me sick leave at my regular rate. I didn't this past Friday 11/27 for the week prior, and notified my company over the weekend. Today they have told me I need to file for regular unemployment. Am i just screwed out of the last two weeks because I didn't file on time? They never mentioned anything to me until I asked them. They also required me to stay home for two weeks even though I tested negative. Just looking for some advice on where to go from here.
Long
TLDR: Work made me think it was ok to WFH while in quarantine and then told me there was a company wide rule prohibiting anyone to work from home and that I would have to use vacation/sick pay during my time off which I found is out is only kind of true.
Our Houston office is really small, less than 10 people.
When this all started, we worked from home for a few months but then we back to the office. (Relevant later)
This past Monday I started to feel chills and a sore throat by the end of the day and by 2 am Tuesday I woke up having sweat through my clothes and sheets and worse sore throat - I knew I was definitely sick then.
At 7 am, I went to pick up my work stuff from the office so I could work from home and wore a mask in the office and wiped everything down with disinfectant wipes on my way out.
I texted my bosses at 730 am to let them know that I was sick and would be working from home for 2 weeks. They both said that it was fine and to keep them updated so they could take precautions for the rest of the staff.
On Tuesday I received a text from one of them with a link to a CVS testing center. I told them that I was not comfortable going to a Houston testing site because I've heard of insurances being charged crazy amounts for tests and if you have to pay up front it's $100+ which I don't have and I can't afford any surprise Medical bills.
I let them know that I had already booked an appointment with a fort bend county site because that is where I'm a resident but it's not until this coming Monday. I know for a fact that these tests are free for county residents.
Then I received a text yesterday with a different link from a different boss telling me I could get a sooner test and I explained to that boss about not having the money to pay up front and not trusting that the Houston testing site wouldn't charge my insurance.
I was wondering why they were pushing for me to test so quickly....
This morning as I was catching up on emails and talking to my boss about work, they insist that I take the day off and not work from home. I told them that I was feeling fine enough to work but they really insisted that I wouldn't be able to do my work because I wasn't "at 100%". I reiterated that I felt fine enough to work and that's when I was told that there's a company wide rule prohibiting ANYONE in the company from working from home.
When I pointed out that we worked from home for a few months with no issues, they told me that it did
... keep reading on reddit ➡My sister is a teacher and has two kids at home whose schools went 100% remote learning this fall, and needs someone to watch them (her spouse is WFH but can't watch/help them all the time). Is the Families First Coronavirus Response Act something that can be used for educators, if they have to be home to help watch/coordinate children? Has anyone else successfully used this at school (or elsewhere)?
Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Anthony Gonzalez [R-OH16]
This bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and one other committee which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.
This is just a brief rant about the passing of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provides additional leave to those with children. What about those who live with adults who are high (or regular even) risk individuals? What about yourself? I guess only children are worth protecting (and giving additional leave).
Let me first preface this post by saying I don't know much about the process of Congressional bills and acts. I basically know bills are drafted for debate and voting, and when passed, eventually become enacted legislation- an Act. This is why I am here, because I would like some clarification from individuals who are experienced in this area and would be willing to share some thoughts on an interesting finding I came across a few days ago. Interesting to me, anyway.
Last Friday was big news, as we all heard the $2 trillion stimulus package was approved. Since I heard slight variations from different media sources, I was unsure which facts were true. I am an Accounting major, so numbers really mean a lot to me. I decided the best way to get the best information was to read the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) posted on Congress.gov.
Upon reading it, almost everything in it was entirely different from what was being currently reported. I didn't see anything about the stimulus checks, which was a main focal point on the news. I was very confused about how the media was reporting on details that were not mentioned in the document I was reading. I scanned and scanned until I checked the date: January 3rd, 2020. Here is what I was reading: https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr6201/BILLS-116hr6201enr.pdf
I did find the current act https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ123/PLAW-116publ123.pdf, but the dates are what I want to focus on more than actual content because of the implications. Think back: On January 3rd, the news was providing coverage about the Wuhan outbreak, but the media and the president were not mentioning any cause for concern way back then. The general American population was aware of what was happening but that's about it. The CDC started alerting clinics on January 8th and we got our first case on January 21. Yet, just until a few weeks ago, the president was saying it was less harmful than the flu and people had nothing to worry about and it was under control, even despite professional opinion. It's like everything came slamming down to a state of emergency about 3 weeks ago, which again, is very far from January 3rd. Yet that's when emergency appropriations were being proposed in the FFCRA...wouldn't the president know about this and be worried?
The bill was sp
... keep reading on reddit ➡>I'm worried about the coronavirus bill that just went through the house as well as other "emergency" legislation that is being put in place across the country.
>
>The "temporary" infringements on liberty and enlargement of government programs/spending, according to history, will reveal themselves to be permanent.
>
>And in fact they will continue to expand.
>
>All because of mass hysteria instigated by the media.
>
>The problems created by human beings will over time far overshadow the suffering caused by the virus itself.
>
>That's my fear and I would put money on it being the truth.
For anyone interested in reading more about the infringement of your liberties that was recently passed by Congress, information on H.R. 6201 can be found here:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6201
Hi everyone! I've been hearing stories around town of people struggling to get time off of work or get sick leave even when they or their coworkers are showing symptoms of COVID-19. See the attached PDF of the government order that lists some scenarios where you may qualify:
https://preview.redd.it/l1nljxruenr41.png?width=1876&format=png&auto=webp&s=426ab51a5c9cb0539bf413a5e83d4b9c691c38ea
Update I totally forgot to add the link for this resource. Here it is: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/posters/FFCRA_Poster_WH1422_Federal.pdf
On March 18, 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was signed by the President in response to the spread of the pandemic.
The Department of Labor indicates the provisions of the FFCRA will be in effect from April 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
There are two components in particular that will be available to all FAA employees:
- the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act, providing up to 80 hours of paid leave to employees for use in six categories related to the pandemic,
- the Emergency Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) Expansion Act, which provides up to 10 weeks of paid FMLA leave to provide dependent care in connection with the pandemic.
The FAA is working diligently to have all of the tools in place to fully implement the Act; however, there are a number of implementation challenges. For example:
- Creation of CASTLE and FPPS codes to account for FFCRA leave will require significant coordination with the Department of the Interior and Department of Transportation.
- Pay limitations in FFCRA leave may result in shortfalls to paychecks of FAA employees who earn more than $511 per day (approximately $133,000 per year) for sick leave; and an even more restrictive limitation of around $200 per day for the FMLA leave.
Although we do not have all the implementation resources needed to answer all of your questions regarding the FFCRA, we are attaching the Department of Labor poster to provide a high-level overview. We will provide updated information as soon as it becomes available.
Heads up my peeps, 04/01 is now your go do date!
Is the State of California a covered employer under the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act? The DOL website states the FFCRA apply to certain public employers. I’m trying to determine if I can request for paid leave to care for my son because his school is closed.
As of now, the bill has passed the House it's now up to the Senate.
