Emergency Family and Medical Leave Under FFCRA

The medical and sick leave mandate of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) expired on Jan. 1. 2021. However, eligible employers can continue to voluntarily offer this leave and claim the associated credits through March 31, 2021.

This provision of the FFCRA expanded the existing Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requirements until Dec. 31, 2020. This generally applied to all employers with fewer than 500 employees, and applied to employees who had been employed at least 30 calendar days.

Subsequent changes in the House significantly limited qualifying events, so that only employees who were unable to work (or telework) due to a need to leave to care for their son or daughter under the age of 18 if their school was closed or child care was unavailable due to COVID-19 qualify.

The Secretary of Labor was granted the authority to issue regulations to exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees from these requirements “when the imposition of such requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.”

The first 10 days for which an employee took leave under this section could consist of unpaid leave. Employees could elect to substitute any other available leave for the unpaid leave, at the employer’s discretion.

After 10 days, the employer was required to provide paid leave. Paid leave was calculated based on no less than two-thirds of an employee’s regular rate of pay and the number of hours the employee would have otherwise normally been scheduled to work. However, pay was capped at $200 per day and $10,000 in aggregate per employee.

NAHB is providing this information for general information only. This information does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind nor should it be construed as such. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisers.