Posted on April 2nd, 2020
Below is a complete transcript of this video.
What’s up fellow entrepreneurs is John Fagerholm again. Today I want to talk about the Family’s First Corona virus Response Act. Mouthful.
It was signed into law last week by President Trump. And I was going to make one long video, not only about this particular act but everything else that’s happening.
Both in LA, the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, state of California. And then of course this particular act that’s federal and affects everybody in the United States.
However, things are changing so rapidly and from one day to the next laws are conflicting lots going on. So it just made sense for me to start with this video and then move on to maybe state and then County and then maybe Los Angeles with other videos.
So I was reading this law and there’s two parts to it.
The first part is the emergency paid sick leave portion of it.
And then the second portion of it is the Family Medical and Leave Act, the FMLA. So those two in that, in themselves have nuances that would make it too long for this video.
So I think I’m going to talk about the emergency paid sick leave in this video. And then tomorrow I’ll talk about the FMLA portion of this action.
Alright, so this new law is in response to the effects on employees from the global pandemic that is Covid19.
Basically what this law does is it gives every employee both full time and part time an additional 80 hours of sick pay on top of whatever your jurisdiction requires of you anyway.
Now, this law only affects employers that have 500 or fewer employees.
That’s right. Fewer, not more, fewer. So I don’t know why that is.
I’m sure at some point there’ll be some guidance letting us know why they chose 500 or fewer instead of everybody. But that’s, that’s what we’re working with.
This law comes into effect April 1st, 2020 and it goes to December 31st, 2020 and less further extended. The DOL department of labor has indicated that it’ll start enforcement April 17th unless somebody’s, some employer before that is not acting reasonably.
So even though this covers all employees there are very reasons for them to use this additional 80 hours. And so I’ve made some notes here.
Let me take a look at it and read it off to you. So, an employee can take this emergency sick leave if:
- one the employee is subject to a federal, state or local quarantine or isolation order related to Covid19
- two, the employee has been advised by a healthcare provider to self quarantine due concern due to concerns related to Cova 19
- three, the employee is experiencing symptoms of COBIT 19 and seeking a medical diagnosis. And let me stop here with one, two or three.
And the reason I want to stop here is because with these three reasons, the employee will get 100% of their pay and it’s at the maximum pay that they’ve received. For four, five and six, it’s only two thirds of their pay.
Let me get to number four right now.
- four the employee is caring for an individual who one is subject to a federal, state or local quarantine or isolation order or to has been advised by a healthcare provider to swell to self quarantine due to concerns related to Covid19 five.
- five, the employee is caring for a son or daughter if the school or place of care has been closed or the childcare provider is unavailable due to Covid19 precautions.
- And finally, if the number six, if the employee is experiencing any other substantially similar condition specified by the secretary of health and human services in consultation with the secretary of treasury and labor.
All right? So those are the six reasons that they can, use the 80 additional hours on top of what your, your jurisdiction already requires.
It’s going to be a lot of stress, a lot of pressure for already struggling, struggling you know, employers to then on top of that give employees an additional 80 hours.
There are, there is some relief. I think there’s grants and loans and things that employers can apply for. Now those, you know, I’ll have to cover in other videos.
But the one thing I want to make sure that everybody understands is that it seems like things are changing on a daily basis.
And so even though this is the federal rule, state and local rules are coming down what seems like daily. And some of them, I think, conflict with what the feds are saying. Some of them are a stricter standard.
So don’t just rely on this video and think that you’ve got this covered. I urge you to reach out to your attorney and make sure that you’ve got the most up to date information because as of tomorrow, this, you know, may not even be the most up to date information.
All right, entrepreneurs hang in there. I know it’s a tough time, but you know, we’ll get through this together.
Talk to you soon.
