Amount of Leave: 10 days of paid sick leave, regardless of the employee’s tenure, if an employee is “unable to work (or telework)”[1] for six COVID-19 related reasons.
Reasons for Leave:
1. The employee is subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19.
2. The employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.
3. The employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis.
4. The employee is caring for an individual who (i) is subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19, or (ii) has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.
5. The employee is caring for a son or daughter of such employee if the school or place of care of the son or daughter has been closed, or the child-care provider of such son or daughter is unavailable, due to COVID-19 precautions.
6. The employee is experiencing any other substantially similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor.
Hours to be paid:
Full-time employees: 80 hours.
Part-time employees: an amount equal to the number of hours that the employee works, on average, over a two-week period.
Amount to be paid:
The rate of compensation for COVID-19-related paid sick leave is determined based on the reason for such leave, as follows.
Reasons 1, 2 or 3 above: compensation at their regular rate of pay, capped at $511 per day ($5,110 maximum).
Reasons 4, 5 or 6 above: two-thirds of the employee’s regular rate of pay capped at $200 per day ($2,000 maximum).
Employer’s Reasonable Procedures: After the first day an employee receives paid leave, an employer may require the employee to follow reasonable procedures to continue receiving paid sick leave.
Restrictions:
Employers cannot require employee to use other paid leave provided by the employer before using the COVID-19 paid sick leave.
Employers cannot require the employee to find another employee to cover the hours during which the employee is using the COVID-19 paid sick leave.
Employees cannot carryover unused COVID-19 paid sick leave.
Employees are not entitled to payment of unused COVID-19 paid sick leave upon termination from employment.
Employers may not discharge, discipline or otherwise discriminate against any employee who takes paid sick leave under FFCRA and files a complaint or institutes a proceeding under the FFCRA.
[1] In its recent guidance the DOL states the following as to whether an employee is unable to work: “You are unable to work if your employer has work for you and one of the COVID-19 qualifying reasons set forth in the FFCRA prevents you from being able to perform that work, either under normal circumstances at your normal worksite or by means of telework. If you and your employer agree that you will work your normal number of hours, but outside of your normally scheduled hours (for instance early in the morning or late at night), then you are able to work and leave is not necessary unless a COVID-19 qualifying reason prevents you from working that schedule.”
