The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)

How does leave work if you or a family members becomes ill with COVID-19? The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was signed into law on March 18, 2020 and takes effect April 2, 2020. The FFCRA applies to employers with less than 500 employees and all public employees, including teachers and PSRPs.

 

The law guarantees that workers have up to two work-weeks of job-protected, immediately available paid sick days for coronavirus-related health and caregiving reasons, and up to 12 weeks of job-protected, paid family leave in certain coronavirus-related circumstances. Specifically, paid time may be used for quarantine, diagnosis, or care of oneself or a family member, or to care for a child whose school or usual source of care is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The law reimburses employers for the cost of wages paid for emergency paid sick days and paid family leave via tax credits.

The BTU is working with BCPSS to ensure an immediate adoption of these protections.

• Employee’s own illness/isolation: If you must miss work because of your own illness or coronavirus diagnosis, which includes medical instruction to isolate, the first 10 days would be emergency paid sick leave provided pursuant to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Emergency paid sick leave is paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay if the employee is absent for his or her own illness, but is capped at $511/day or $5,110 total. Thereafter, you would be covered by accrued sick leave, or where accrued leave has been exhausted, sick leave banks or the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
• Employees who are quarantined: If you have been advised by a healthcare provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to the coronavirus, you are eligible for ten (10) days of emergency paid sick leave per the provisions of the FFCRA.
• Employee caring for an ill family member: If you need to take leave to care for an ill family member, the leave may be covered by the FMLA or the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. If it is leave to care for a family member who has been advised to self-quarantine by a health care provider due to concerns related to the coronavirus, the ten (10) days of emergency paid sick leave per the provision of the FFCRA are available to you.
• Employee unable to work due to the lack of child care: The FFCRA provides paid FMLA leave to employees who have been employed for at least 30 days and are unable to work or telework because they are needed to care for a child under the age of 18 due to school closures or child care unavailability resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first two weeks, City Schools will provide the employee with partial emergency paid sick leave. For full-time and part-time employees who typically work a standard number of hours, this paid leave will at two-thirds of the employee’s regular daily rate (or minimum wage, if it is greater), up to a maximum of $200 per day or $2,000 in the aggregate. For part-time employees without standard hours, the number of hours paid per day will be the average number of hours the employee worked per day in the six months prior to the leave.
• An employee is eligible for expanded family medical leave beyond the first two weeks only if the employee has been employed by City Schools for at least 30 calendar days. In those cases, City Schools will provide the employee with up to ten additional weeks of partial paid leave. For full-time and part-time employees who typically work a standard number of hours, this paid leave will at two-thirds of the employee’s regular daily rate (or minimum wage, if it is greater), up to a maximum of $200 per day or $10,000 in the aggregate for these ten weeks. For part time employees without standard hours, the number of hours paid per day will be the average number of hours the employee worked per day in the six months prior to the leave.