As we previously posted, on March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires employers with less than 500 employees to provide paid sick leave and paid child care leave for COVID-19 related reasons.
The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has released the Notice of Employee Rights under the Act, which all employers (under 500 employees) must “post” by April 1, 2020. The Notice is required to placed in a conspicuous space in the employer’s premises. However, recognizing that most workers are currently teleworking, the DOL has stated the the emailing or direct mailing of the Notice to employees, or the posting of the notice on an employee information website, satisfies the posting requirement.
For more details concerning employee rights to paid sick or family leave under the Act, please see our prior post.
Small businesses (i.e. those with under 50 employees) are still waiting for the DOL to publish the criteria for exemption from the Act’s paid leave requirements relating to school closings or child care. Until those criteria are published, all businesses should provide any eligible employee with paid leave as required by the Act to avoid potential liabilities.
Employer obligations relating to COVID-19 continue to evolve and are just one of the many challenges being faced by business owners in these unprecedented times. If you have questions about your business’s handling of coronavirus related employment or business issues, please contact us at (201) 345-5412 / (646) 503-5358 or through our online scheduling system.