The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has not yet identified any substantially similar condition that would allow an employee to take paid sick leave. For example, if your employee requests expanded family and medical leave on April 10, 2020, he or she must have been your employee since March 11, 2020. Therefore, you are probably entitled to paid sick leave if, for example, you work for the government of the United States, a State, the District of Columbia, a Territory or possession of the United States, a city, a municipality, a township, a county, a parish, or a similar government entity subject to the exceptions below. For example, assume you are eligible for preexisting FMLA leave and took two weeks of such leave in January 2020 to undergo and recover from a surgical procedure. When am I eligible for paid sick leave based on a substantially similar condition specified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services? As an employer, generally, yes. Of course, to the extent you are able to telework while caring for your child, paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave is not available. The Department notes that if your childs school, place of care, or child care provider were closed or unavailable on only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, as opposed to the entire week, then you would not need to take intermittent leave if working on the schedule in the example above. Under the FFCRA, enacted March 18, 2020, employers were required to provide paid leave through two separate provisions: (1) the EPSLA, under which employees received to up to 80 hours of paid sick time when they were unable to work for certain reasons related to COVID-19, and (2) Expanded FMLA, under which employees received paid family leave to You may satisfy your obligations under the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act by making contributions to a multiemployer fund, plan, or other program in accordance with your existing collective bargaining obligations. To calculate the number of hours for which you are entitled to paid leave, please see the answers to Questions 5-6 that are provided in this guidance. Paid sick leave under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act is in addition to any form of paid or unpaid leave provided by an employer, law, or an applicable collective bargaining agreement. An employer may satisfy this requirement by emailing or direct mailing this notice to employees, or posting this notice on an employee information internal or external website. div#block-eoguidanceviewheader .dol-alerts p {padding: 0;margin: 0;} See FAQ 16. Those enforcement provisions state that the employer shall be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages. For the purposes of the FFCRA, the amount of unpaid minimum wages does not refer to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, but rather to the hourly wage at which the employer must compensate you for taking paid sick leave, which is, generally, the greater of your regular rate or the applicable minimum wage (federal, state, or local). Therefore, you are probably entitled to paid sick leave if, for example, you work for the government of a State, the District of Columbia, a Territory or possession of the United States, a city, a municipality, a township, a county, a parish, or a similar entity. In this situation, the employer must pay the employees full pay during the leave until the employee has exhausted available paid leave under the employers planincluding vacation and/or personal leave (typically not sick or medical leave). Employees are limited to a total of 80 hours of paid sick leave under the FFCRA. Suppose your employees non-excludable remuneration and hours worked are as follows: In total, the employee worked 1,150 hours and received $23,000 in non-excludable remuneration. If HHS does identify any such condition, the Department of Labor will issue guidance explaining when you may take paid sick leave on the basis of a substantially similar condition.. May I take paid sick leave to care for a child other than my child? As an employer, how do I know if my business is under the 500-employee threshold and therefore must provide paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave? See FAQ 63. I took paid sick leave and am now taking expanded family and medical leave to care for my children whose school is closed for a COVID-19 related reason. . Section 6008 of the FFCRA provides a temporary . However, you are entitled to paid sick leave under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act regardless of how much leave you have taken under the FMLA. This is true whether your employer closes your worksite for lack of business or because it is required to close pursuant to a Federal, State, or local directive. Unless you are teleworking, paid sick leave for qualifying reasons related to COVID-19 must be taken in full-day increments. May I take paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave to care for my child who is 18 years old or older? an authorized officer of the business has determined that at least one of the three conditions described in Question 58 is satisfied. Your employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is seeking a medical diagnosis. No. My employer said I could go back to work next week. If you pay your employee exclusively through a fixed salary that is understood to be compensation for a specific number of hours of work in each workweek, the employees average regular rate would simply be the hourly equivalent of that salary. If the Department brings an enforcement action on your behalf, you are entitled to recover the full amount due under the FFCRA (see Question 7), which is the greater of your regular rate (see Question 8) or the applicable minimum wage (federal, state, or local) for each hour of uncompensated paid sick leave taken, in each case, subject to the applicable FFCRA maximums (see Question 7). If the employee exhausts available paid leave under the employers plan, but has more paid expanded and medical family leave available, the employee will receive any remaining paid expanded and medical family in the amounts and subject to the daily and aggregate limits in the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act. Several similar state and local laws also sunset at the end of 2020. Does the non-enforcement position mean businesses do not need to comply with the FFCRA from the effective date of April 1, 2020 through April 17, 2020? [CDATA[/* >