The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) sunsetted on December 31, 2020, but some provisions remain active.
On Sunday, December 27, 2020, former President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan pandemic relief bill into law. Because the leave provisions of the FFCRA were not extended employers were no longer required to provide leave under the FFCRA in 2021.
However, as part of this relief package the tax credit for FFCRA leave, which reimburses employers for FFCRA leave taken by employees, was extended through March 31, 2021. Therefore employers who voluntarily choose to provide employees with FFCRA leave may do so until March 31, 2021 and receive tax credit for the leave. Of course, employers may instead choose to adopt their own policies to grant paid or unpaid leave for COVID-related purposes or simply allow employees to use their existing leave.
If employers do choose to provide FFCRA through March 31, 2021 they should be aware that employees are not granted FFCRA leave in addition to what they received in 2020. Thus if an employee has exhausted 80 hours of paid sick leave and 12 weeks of expanded family medical leave in 2020 they will not receive additional leave in 2021. Moreover, there are no changes to eligibility, purposes of leave, caps on usage, or documentation requirements.
Lastly, state or local laws may impose additional requirements for COVID-19 related leave and employers are advised to ensure that they act in compliance with any applicable laws.
For more information, contact one of our employment attorneys.