{"id":5111,"date":"2020-04-20T16:57:42","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T16:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/?p=5111"},"modified":"2021-11-22T18:40:56","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T18:40:56","slug":"how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"These are unprecedented times.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nFrom a global virus to social distancing to limited travel to unfolding economic conditions, we\u2019ve never experienced anything like this in our lifetimes.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAs a small business owner, you have a lot to process. Not only are you nervous about the viability of your company, you\u2019re also concerned about monitoring mandated health guidelines and the emotional impact this is having on both you and your employees.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nDue to the extraordinary events unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has taken steps to help citizens and business owners alike manage the impact. And while these new measures add more responsibilities to your plate, you need to be aware of and prepared for the implementation of the laws.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h2>Here\u2019s What You Need to Know<\/h2>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nOn March 18, 2020, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which went into effect on April 1, 2020, and will remain in effect until December 31, 2020.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nPrior to the COVID-19 outbreak, U.S. federal law <em>did not<\/em> require private employers to provide <em>paid leave<\/em> for employees. The key words being \u201cpaid leave.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nUnder the pre-existing Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), only employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles of the company\u2019s work site were required to provide\u00a0<em>unpaid leave<\/em>\u00a0to their employees based on specific guidelines.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThat has now changed.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe FFCRA requires <em>all<\/em> private employers with fewer than 500 employees, and most public employers, to provide paid leave to all eligible employees. Under the new law, you are required to provide 80 hours of paid leave for eligible full-time employees who are:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Subject to a federal, state or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking medical diagnosis<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Caring for an individual subject to a federal, state or local quarantine or isolation\r\norder or advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to COVID-19 concerns<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Caring for the employee\u2019s child if the child\u2019s school or place of care is closed due to COVID-19 related reasons<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Experiencing any other substantially similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in consultation with the Secretary of Treasury and the Secretary of Labor<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe FFCRA also allows up to an additional 10 weeks of expanded family and medical leave to employees who are unable to work in order to care for a child whose school or place of care closed during the national emergency. To be eligible for this provision, an employee must be employed by your company for at least 30 calendar days (rather than the typical 12-month employment period\/1,250 hours required for FMLA coverage).\r\n\r\nUnder the new FFCRA guidelines, all eligible employees are entitled to the following:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of\u00a0paid leave at the employee\u2019s regular rate of pay\u00a0(or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher) where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (because of a federal, state or local government order or advice of a healthcare provider), and\/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis; or<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of\u00a0paid leave\u00a0at two-thirds the employee\u2019s regular rate of pay\u00a0(or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher) because the employee is unable to work because of a need to care for an individual subject to quarantine (because of a federal, state or local government order or advice of a healthcare provider), or to care for a child (under 18 years) whose school or childcare provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, and\/or the employee is experiencing a substantially similar condition as prescribed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Labor; and<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Up to an additional 10 weeks of\u00a0expanded family and medical leave\u00a0at two-thirds the employee\u2019s regular rate of pay\u00a0(or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher) where an employee, who has been employed for at least 30 calendar days, is unable to work due to a need for leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe Department of Labor (DOL) will observe a temporary period of non-enforcement for the first 30 days after the FFCRA takes effect, as long as you act reasonably and in good faith to comply with its provisions. Businesses failing to comply after the grace period will be subject to enforcement provisions of the FMLA and\/or the Fair Labor Standards Act.\r\n<h2>There Is an Exception<\/h2>\r\nIf your business has fewer than 50 employees, you may be exempt from providing emergency paid leave.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAccording to the DOL, exemption is admissible \u201cwhen the imposition of such requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as an ongoing concern.\u201d In order to qualify, you must demonstrate at least one of the following:\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Complying with the new laws would lead expenses to exceed revenue, effectively causing your business to cease operation.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Absence of an employee would create a substantial risk to the financial or operational abilities of your business due to the employee\u2019s specialized skills and knowledge of your business or responsibilities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>There are insufficient workers available who are willing and qualified to perform in place of the employee or employees requesting paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave, where these services or skills are required for your company to operate at minimal capacity.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h2>Tax Credits Provide a Silver Lining<\/h2>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe FFCRA provides businesses with tax credits to cover certain costs of providing employees with required paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for reasons related to COVID-19, from April 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nQualifying wages are those paid to an employee who takes leave under FFCRA for a qualifying reason, up to the appropriate per diem and aggregate payment caps. Applicable tax credits also extend to amounts paid or incurred to maintain health insurance coverage. For clarity on the tax credits, it\u2019s wise to consult your tax attorney or visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/news\/press-releases\/sm952\">U.S. Department of the Treasury website<\/a> for more information.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These are unprecedented times. &nbsp; From a global virus to social distancing to limited travel to unfolding economic conditions, we\u2019ve never experienced anything like this in our lifetimes. &nbsp; As a small business owner, you have a lot to process. Not only are you nervous about the viability of your company, you\u2019re also concerned about&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/\" class=\"readMore\">read&nbsp;more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":5113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[36,9],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Due to the extraordinary events unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has taken steps to help citizens and business owners alike manage the impact.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Due to the extraordinary events unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has taken steps to help citizens and business owners alike manage the impact.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Valuable HR Blog Topics for Small Business Owners and HR Professionals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-20T16:57:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-22T18:40:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_19-Employee-Paid-Sick-Leave-Laws.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1174\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ashley Kaplan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Valuable HR Blog Topics for Small Business Owners and HR Professionals\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_19-Employee-Paid-Sick-Leave-Laws.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_19-Employee-Paid-Sick-Leave-Laws.png\",\"width\":1174,\"height\":530,\"caption\":\"COVID_19 Employee Paid Sick Leave Laws\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/\",\"name\":\"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-20T16:57:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-22T18:40:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/383d96b4953d9df62310dae13b453a34\"},\"description\":\"Due to the extraordinary events unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has taken steps to help citizens and business owners alike manage the impact.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/383d96b4953d9df62310dae13b453a34\",\"name\":\"Ashley Kaplan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bba197298eb373433cdad7580a3e9fa5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bba197298eb373433cdad7580a3e9fa5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ashley Kaplan\"},\"description\":\"Ashley has practiced labor and employment law for more than 20 years, representing employers in matters ranging from discrimination and harassment litigation, to defending FLSA class action lawsuits. In her current role as Senior Employment Law Attorney for ComplyRight, Inc., Ashley handles legal compliance and oversees the teams responsible for researching and developing labor law posting solutions, including the market-leading Poster Guard\u00ae Compliance Service, and other HR compliance solutions for businesses of all sizes. FUN FACT: Ashley loves participating in competitive sports and plays in several adult soccer leagues.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/author\/akaplan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses","description":"Due to the extraordinary events unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has taken steps to help citizens and business owners alike manage the impact.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses","og_description":"Due to the extraordinary events unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has taken steps to help citizens and business owners alike manage the impact.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/","og_site_name":"Valuable HR Blog Topics for Small Business Owners and HR Professionals","article_published_time":"2020-04-20T16:57:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-22T18:40:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1174,"height":530,"url":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_19-Employee-Paid-Sick-Leave-Laws.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ashley Kaplan","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/","name":"Valuable HR Blog Topics for Small Business Owners and HR Professionals","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_19-Employee-Paid-Sick-Leave-Laws.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/COVID_19-Employee-Paid-Sick-Leave-Laws.png","width":1174,"height":530,"caption":"COVID_19 Employee Paid Sick Leave Laws"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/","name":"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-04-20T16:57:42+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-22T18:40:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/383d96b4953d9df62310dae13b453a34"},"description":"Due to the extraordinary events unfolding during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has taken steps to help citizens and business owners alike manage the impact.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/how-the-new-paid-leave-laws-impact-small-businesses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How the New Paid Leave Laws Impact Small Businesses"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/383d96b4953d9df62310dae13b453a34","name":"Ashley Kaplan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bba197298eb373433cdad7580a3e9fa5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bba197298eb373433cdad7580a3e9fa5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ashley Kaplan"},"description":"Ashley has practiced labor and employment law for more than 20 years, representing employers in matters ranging from discrimination and harassment litigation, to defending FLSA class action lawsuits. In her current role as Senior Employment Law Attorney for ComplyRight, Inc., Ashley handles legal compliance and oversees the teams responsible for researching and developing labor law posting solutions, including the market-leading Poster Guard\u00ae Compliance Service, and other HR compliance solutions for businesses of all sizes. FUN FACT: Ashley loves participating in competitive sports and plays in several adult soccer leagues.","url":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/author\/akaplan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5111"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5271,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5111\/revisions\/5271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}