New Tool Helps Employees Determine Their Eligibility for FFCRA Paid Leave

Jul 6, 2020 | COVID-19, Employee Benefits

A new online tool from the U.S. Department of Labor can help household employees determine whether they qualify for paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has created an online tool to help workers determine whether they qualify for paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

Household employees like nannies, housekeepers, and senior caregivers may be eligible for paid leave under FFCRA under certain pandemic-related reasons:

Up to two weeks of sick leave (full pay for self, 2/3 pay for family care) for illness, quarantine, or school/daycare closures
Up to 12 weeks of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave for school/daycare closures (10 days unpaid and then up to 10 weeks at 2/3 pay)

The tool poses questions to help employees assess whether their employers are subject to the paid leave provisions of the FFCRA.

First, the employee will choose their employer’s size and type. Household workers would choose private-sector employer with fewer than 500 employees.

Next, they would choose whether they:

have coronavirus symptoms or have been advised or ordered to quarantine/isolate
need to care for someone who is subject to quarantine or isolation, or care for their child whose school or place of care is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
have been furloughed

Each of those options has additional questions to answer before determining whether the worker qualifies for FFCRA paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave.

Use the Determining Your FFCRA Eligibility tool.

A similar tool is being developed for employers.

To help cover the costs of mandated leave, FFCRA provides employers two refundable payroll tax credits that are designed to immediately and fully reimburse them. Employers will be repaid, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing coronavirus leave to their employees.

For employees to be eligible for FFCRA paid leave and families to receive tax credits, workers need to be paid legally.

GTM can help

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