The Act was enacted on March 18, 2020. The provisions will go into effect on April 1, 2020 and will expire on December 31, 2020.
• The DOL will observe a temporary period of non-enforcement for the first 30 days after the act takes effect (March 18 through April 17, 2020), so long as the employer has acted “reasonably and in good faith.” The DOL has issued guidance on what these terms mean. They can be found here: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/field-assistance-bulletins/2020-1.
• The Act requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide COVID-19-related paid sick and family leave to eligible employees.
• The DOL has authority to issue exemptions for employers with fewer than 50 employees if the imposition of these requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.
• On March 25, 2020, the Department of Labor published a Notice Poster for employers to satisfy the posting requirements of FFCRC. The poster can be found at the following link: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/posters.
• An employer may satisfy the posting requirement by emailing or direct mailing the poster to employees or posting the notice on an employee information internal or external website.
• The employer is not compelled to post the notice in different languages.
· Where leave is foreseeable, an employee should provide notice to the employer of the need for leave.
