Source: UC DAVIS RURAL MIGRATION BLOG, 4/9/20

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (HR 6201) requires private-sector employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide their employees with up to two weeks of fully or partially paid sick leave for COVID-19 related reasons between April 1 and December 31, 2020. DOL, which administers the FFCRA, can exempt employers with fewer than 50 employees if an employer believes that paid leave benefits would jeopardize the viability of the business.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 requires employers with 50 or more workers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid sick leave to employees after the birth of a child, to recover from a serious illness, or to care for someone with a serious illness. Employees must have worked at least 1,250 hours for the employer in the previous 12 months to qualify for this unpaid leave, and can return to their old jobs at the end of the leave.

The FFCRA makes full-time employees who have been employed at least 30 days and are subject to quarantine orders due to COVID-19, who have been advised to self-quarantine by a health care provider, or who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and are seeking a diagnosis, eligible for 80 hours of paid sick leave at their regular wage, up to $511 a day or $5,110 in total. No waiting period is required, and H-2A farm workers are eligible as well as authorized and unauthorized workers.

Employees are eligible for two-thirds of their regular pay, up to $200 a day or $2,000 total, if they cannot work because they must care for someone with COVID-19 or a child under 18 whose child care facility or school is closed due to COVID-19. Part-time employees are eligible for the number of hours of paid sick leave that they would normally work in a two-week period.

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