Families First Coronavirus Response Act; Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Because both U.S. employers and employees have questions about the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) signed into federal law on March 18, 2020, we are providing answers to some of the frequently asked questions about this new law.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“Act”):

• Question: What does the Act provide?
• Answer: The Act responds to the coronavirus outbreak by providing emergency paid sick leave and free coronavirus testing, expanding food assistance and unemployment benefits, and requiring employers to provide additional protections for health care workers.
• Question: What support does the Act provide to food assistance programs?
• Answer: The Act provides $500 million in additional funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), $400 million in additional funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and an additional $100 million in nutrition assistance grants for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. These additional funds will remain available through September 30, 2021. During this period of time, any household containing at least one (1) child who would otherwise receive free or reduced price lunches and whose school is closed for at least five (5) consecutive days due to the coronavirus pandemic, shall be eligible to receive supplemental assistance under this Act. The Act also allows certain waivers to requirements for school meal programs and suspends the work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program).
• Question: Does the Act provide free testing for COVID-19?
• Answer: The Act requires that insurance plans offering group or individual health insurance coverage must provide the insured patient with fully covered COVID-19 diagnostic testing without charging the patient a deductible, copayment, or coinsurance. In addition, doctor’s office visits (whether in-person or telehealth visits), urgent care center visits, and emergency room visits that result in an order for COVID-19 diagnostic testing are also covered, to the extent such visits relate to the provision of the COVID-19 diagnostic test or the evaluation of an individual to determine whether the test is necessary.
• Question: Does the Act provide emergency paid sick leave to workers due to the COVID-19 outbreak?
• Answer: Yes, but only for employees of employers with fewer than 500 employees.  The Act includes the “Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act,” which provides paid sick leave as follows:
  • For full-time employees, 80 hours;
  • For part-time employees, the amount equal to the number of hours the employee works on average over a 2-week period.
  • Paid sick leave under this section can be taken for the following reasons:
    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 COVID-19 concerns;
    3. The employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis;
    4. The employee is taking care of an individual who is quarantined or in isolation due to COVID-19;
    5. The employee is caring for a son or daughter whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19;
    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 Secretary of Labor.
  • Paid sick leave is calculated based on the employee’s (a) regular rate of pay or applicable minimum wage (whichever is higher) for reasons 1., 2., and 3., and (b) two-thirds (2/3) of their regular rate of pay or minimum wage (whichever is higher) for reasons 4., 5., and 6.
  • Paid sick leave is capped at:
    • $511 per day and $5,110 in total for reasons 1., 2., and 3.;
    • $200 per day and $2,000 in total for reasons 4., 5., and 6.
  • Paid sick leave under this section shall not carry over to the next year.
  • An employer may not require the employee requesting paid sick leave to find their own replacement employee to cover them.
  • These emergency paid sick leave benefits are in addition to any sick leave benefits the employee to which the employee is already entitled under existing employer policy, federal/state/local law, or collective bargaining agreement.
  • An employer may not require an employee to use other accrued paid leave benefits first before the employee may use the emergency paid sick leave under this Act.
  • The Department of Labor will prepare a model notice that each employer shall post in a conspicuous place on employer premises that gives employees notice of the emergency paid sick leave benefits under this Act.
    • UPDATE: The Department of Labor has issued a model notice which you can download here: Employee Rights: Paid Sick Leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave under The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) (PDF)
    • The Department of Labor has also issued its own FAQs concerning the notice that employers must post: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-poster-questions
  • An employer shall not discharge, discipline, or discriminate against an employee who takes leave under this Act or files a complaint related to this Act.
  • Paid sick leave under this Act is available to employees regardless of how long they have been employed by the employer.
  • After the first workday (or portion thereof) that an employee receives paid sick leave under this Act, the employer may require the employee to follow its reasonable notice procedures to continue receiving such paid sick leave.
  • The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act takes effect not later than April 2, 2020 (15 days after enactment) and expires on December 31, 2020.
• Question: Does the Act provide expanded Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) benefits to employees affected by COVID-19?
• Answer: Yes, for employees who work for employers with fewer than 500 employees. The Act includes the “Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act,” which will be in effect through December 31, 2020, and which expands the coverage of the FMLA by amending the following definitions:
  • “Eligible Employee” means an employee who has been employed for at least thirty (30) calendar days by the employer from whom leave is requested;
  • The “Employer Threshold” for FMLA is “fewer than 500 employees”;
  • A “Qualifying Need Related To A Public Health Emergency” means the employee is unable to work or telework due to a need for leave to care for a son or daughter under 18 years of age of such employee if the school or place of care has been closed, or the child care provider of such son or daughter is unavailable, due to a public health emergency;
  • “Public Health Emergency” means an emergency with respect to COVID-19 declared by federal, state, or local authority.
  • Applying these definitions, an eligible employee may take expanded family and medical leave for up to 12 weeks from an employer with fewer than 500 employees where that employee is unable to work due to a need to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.
  • The first 10 days during which an employee takes this expanded FMLA leave may consist of unpaid leave, but the employee may elect to use accrued vacation pay, personal leave, or medical/sick leave during this period. Thereafter, an employer must provide paid leave for each day of leave not less than two-thirds (2/3) of an employee’s regular rate of pay, calculated according to the number of hours the employee would normally work.
  • The expanded paid FMLA leave is capped at $200 per day and $10,000 in total.
  • Together, the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act mean that an eligible full-time employee who takes leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 may take up to 12 weeks of paid leave (two weeks of paid sick leave followed by 10 weeks of paid family & medical leave) at 40 hours a week at 2/3 their regular rate or 2/3 the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher, up to $200 per day and $12,000 in the aggregate over a 12-week period. (Source: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employee-paid-leave).
• Question: What financial support does the Act provide to employers who incur the cost of providing paid sick leave and expanded paid family leave under the Act?
• Answer: Private employers who provide paid sick leave and paid family leave benefits to employees under this Act receive two new refundable payroll tax credits, designed to immediately and fully reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave to their employees. An immediate dollar-for-dollar tax offset against payroll taxes will be provided in the amount of benefits paid. Self-employed individuals will also receive an equivalent individual tax credit to be claimed on their income tax returns. (See: 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)
• Question: Are small businesses exempt from any of the paid leave requirements under this Act?
• Answer: Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees will be eligible for an exemption from the leave requirements relating to school closings and child care unavailability where the requirements would jeopardize the ability of the business to continue operations. The Secretary of Labor will issue emergency regulations to articulate this exemption.
• Question: Does the Act provide additional funding for unemployment benefits?
• Answer: Yes. The Act provides additional funding of $1 billion in emergency grants to states to provide unemployment benefits.