OKLAHOMA CITY – Employers with fewer than 500 workers can voluntarily participate in the expanded Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which gives employees a new pool of paid sick leave.
Part of the extended program began April 1, according to Michael Bowling, a labor and employment attorney for the Crowe & Dunlevy law firm in Oklahoma City.
Congress has extended and expanded the leave provisions of the FFCRA, permitting qualifying employers to offer emergency FMLA (EFMLA) and emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) on a voluntary basis and to continue to claim the associated tax credits. The benefits were mandatory through the end of 2020 because of congressional action.
“The extension is important because there are still employees affected by the pandemic,” said Bowling.
Many people across the country still need to isolate, quarantine, get vaccinated or may be experiencing side effects of the vaccine.
“Employers need to tell their employees of the extension, which provides a new pool of emergency sick leave,” Bowling added.
Although many people have already used the earlier emergency sick leave provided by Congress, the extension provides them another 10 days or two weeks of paid sick leave.
Previously, the first two weeks of the 12-week allotment authorized by Congress was unpaid, Bowling said.
Employers who decide to participate in the new emergency FMLA program can offset the paid leave by receiving payroll tax credits. The new provision increased the maximum tax credit allowable per employee for EFMLA from $10,000 to $12,000. This means that an employee who had used all 12 weeks of EFMLA prior to April 1 with two of those weeks being unpaid could qualify for two additional paid weeks of emergency FMLA.
The program will last through Sept. 30.
But not every employer is jumping on the bandwagon.
“Overall, I have some clients who don’t want the headache of more paperwork, but some employers are participating,” Bowling said.
Companies that choose not to participate in the extended government programs might create hardships for their employees.
“People who get very ill don’t get paid for that entire time,” Bowling said. “It can create economic distress for some employees.”
Additional extensions of the federal act beyond Sept. 30 will likely depend on the number of vaccinations given, variants and herd immunity, the attorney said.
Congress added three new leave-qualifying reasons to those already included in the Families First Act. The new reasons for paid leave include employees who are seeking or awaiting results of tests for or diagnosis of COVID-19, employees who are obtaining COVID-19 immunizations and employees who are recovering from injury, disability, illness or conditions related to COVID-19 immunizations.