Restaurants and hospitality businesses are on the front lines of dealing with the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, so what should you consider in the coming days, weeks, and months to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis?.

Below we have provided both an update on the latest federal and state rules relating to coronavirus and a 10-point plan you should review and consider adopting.

Families First Coronavirus Response Act Ushers In Paid Sick Leave and Emergency Family and Medical Leave

In an effort to boost the government’s response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was signed into law on March 18, 2020. It includes many provisions which would drastically affect restaurant and hospitality employers, such as paid sick leave for employees impacted by COVID-19 and those serving as caregivers for individuals with COVID-19. Here are some of the highlights of the law.

Paid And Unpaid Leave For Coronavirus-Related Reasons

There are several provisions relating to employees who are forced to miss work because of the COVID-19 outbreak, including an emergency expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a new federal paid sick leave law, and other new rights.

Emergency Family And Medical Leave Expansion Act

Expanded Coverage And Eligibility

The Act significantly amends and expands the FMLA on a temporary basis. The current employee threshold for coverage would be changed from only covering employers with 50 or more to employers covering any workplace with fewer than 500 employees. It also lowers the eligibility requirement such that an employee who has worked for the employer for at least 30 days prior to the designated leave (those hired on or before March 2, 2020) is eligible to receive paid family and medical leave. This means that thousands of employers not previously subject to the FMLA must provide job-protected leave to employees for a COVID-19 coronavirus-designated reason.

Reasons For Emergency Leave

Specifically, any individual employed by the employer for at least 30 days (before the first day of leave) may take up to 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave to allow the employee to care for the employee’s child if the child’s school or place of care (including if the childcare provider is unavailable) has been closed due to a public emergency. Initially the bill contained additional reasons for the emergency paid FMLA leave. However, the bill was amended and now only has one reason why an employee may qualify for the paid FMLA leave. The U.S. Department of Labor has also issued guidance that suggests that if employers send home workers and stop paying them, these workers are not eligible for emergency family and medical leave. These reasons include because the employer has no work for the employee, has closed its business or pursuant to a federal, state, or local directive.

Paid Leave

The first 10 days of Emergency FMLA may be unpaid, but an employee may elect to substitute any accrued paid time off, including vacation or sick leave, to cover some or all of the 10-day unpaid period. After the 10-day period, the employer must pay full-time employees at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate for the number of hours the employee would otherwise be normally scheduled. This pay is capped at $200 per day and $10,000 in the aggregate, per person. Employees who work a part-time or irregular schedule are entitled to be paid based on the average number of hours the employee worked for the six months prior to taking Emergency FMLA. Employees who have worked for less than six months prior to leave are entitled to the average number of hours the employee would normally be scheduled to work. Employers with bargaining unit employees would apply the Emergency FMLA provisions consistent with the bargaining agreement.

Expanded Definitions

The Act also expands the definition of who is eligible as a “parent’ under FMLA, which includes a parent-in-law of the employee, a parent of a domestic partner of the employee, and a legal guardian or other person who served as the employee’s parent (also known as in loco parentis) when the employee was a child.

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