Federal ‘Families First’ Coronavirus Response Act Offers Sick Leave and Family Leave, with Exceptions 1

By Andy Katz and Mariko Yoshihara

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA – Congress passed the ‘Families First’ Coronavirus Response Act yesterday, which provides emergency paid sick leave and paid family leave to many employees, but with significant exceptions.  This Act goes into effect April 1.  The law covers employers with up to 500 employees, but employers with 50 or fewer may seek exceptions from the Department of Labor, and those with 25 or fewer are not obligated to reinstate an employee to their previous position. 

Under the Act, employees are entitled to up to two weeks of emergency paid sick leave and up to twelve weeks of emergency paid family leave. For emergency paid sick leave, employees must be “unable to work (or telework) due to a need for leave” because the employee: (1) is subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine order related to COVID-19, (2) has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19, (3) is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is seeking medical diagnosis, (4) caring for an individual subject to quarantine order, or has been advised to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19, (5) caring for a child, if their school or child-care provider has closed due to COVID-19, or (6) other conditions that the Federal government may specify later. 

If taking emergency paid sick leave to care for oneself, the employee is paid 100% of their full rate of pay, up to $511 per day and $5,110 total.  When leave is taken to care for others or for other qualifying reasons provided under the Act, an employee is paid two-thirds of their full rate of pay, up to $200 per day and $2,000 total.  This leave is in addition to any other paid leave to which an employee is already entitled to.  Employers cannot require that regular sick leave or paid time off be used before, or instead of, using this emergency sick leave. 

The Act also allows employees to take up to twelve weeks of emergency family leave. To qualify, an employee must have worked for their employer for at least 30 calendar days (unlike emergency paid sick leave, which is available to any employee, regardless of hours of work or length of service).  These workers can take emergency family leave if they are unable to work (or to telework) due to a need to care for the employee’s son or daughter under 18 years old if the child’s school or place of care has been closed, or childcare provider is unavailable.  The closure or unavailability of childcare must be due to an officially declared COVID-19 public health emergency (by comparison, emergency paid sick leave is available when the closure or unavailability of childcare is due to COVID-19 precautions). 

When an employee is taking emergency family leave, the first 10 days may be unpaid (generally, the employee would likely take emergency paid sick leave during this 10-day period). After 10 days, the employee is entitled to two-third of their regular rate of pay, capped at $200 per day and $10,000 total.

While the ‘Families First’ Coronavirus Response Act will provide much-needed relief for many working families across the country, millions of workers are left out of the law or are ineligible because of restrictive definitions of family caregiving.  California must act now to fill these gaps and ensure that all workers are entitled to job-protected leave and wage replacement benefits to weather the storm of this unprecedented crisis.