This is going to be Part IV of our Q&A on COVID-19. And we're going to talk specifically a little bit about the FFCRA (Families First Coronavirus Response Act). Since the last podcast episode, this is past. It's a law that provides many provisions, but some of them are things like, paid sick leave and paid emergency family leave for those employees. The question we're going to be addressing is, "If I lay off an employee, do I have to pay this new sick leave and when does that kick in?". We're also going to talk about the differences between a "layoff" and a "furlough" as that seems to be coming up quite a bit in our chats. 

Before we go too deep, please subscribe to our podcast. If you can find us on iTunes, Google podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, any pod catcher of your choice makes a huge difference. You can also subscribe at peopleprocesses.com. If you're on there right now, where you go there, a little pop up will show up. It's also in the top right. We have tons of exclusive subscriber only content, like our entire coronavirus kit, where we have sample communications with employees, how to communicate a furlough, how to talk about salary reduction, how to do telework and get people to utilize that and not necessarily take the leave. Those are all addressed in our policies. So please subscribe there. 

Okay. Here's what you need to know. Starting April 1, 2020, which is when this podcast comes out. The Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA) is a federal law that will require employers to facilitate two major changes. Under the law, employees must be given:

1. Up to two weeks of emergency paid leave (EPSL) for illness, quarantine or school closures and; 

2. Up to 12 weeks during which the first two weeks are unpaid. So another 10 weeks for care for children during school closures related to COVID-19, most of which must be paid as well. There are a few exceptions to both of those. This is not going to be an in -depth on the FFCRA. There's tons of information about that on our website. And again, for our subscribers. 

This is the question,

Do we still have to provide the Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) or Emergency Family Leave (EFMLA) if we lay off or furlough our employees?

And the answer is,

If you've laid off (ended the employment relationship), they are no longer employees. So these leaves are not going to apply. 

Workers who are still employed by you but not currently working any hours due to a business slowdown or shelter-in-place order are basically a furlough versus termination, they would also not qualify. The leave may only be used when an employee is unable to work because of the reasons listed in the law (their own sickness, a family member sickness, or school daycare closures). An employee who has already been put on a furlough is unable to work because you have nothing for them to do, either because business slowed down or the government has required closure. That's different than if they can't come in because they are sick or under a government order themselves. For quarantine government orders normally a medical order in the case of an employee. 

You gotta be cautious, though, not to base layoff or furlough decisions on the employees' potential need for leave, as this can constitute unlawful retaliation or interference with their rights under the law. So you can't put people on furlough because you think they're the ones who are going to take the leave. You put people on furlough, because you don't have work for them to do. Does that make sense? Same with termination. 

Remember, the government is going to fully fund these leaves through a payroll tax credit. If you don't have the funds available to cover the leaves until tax time, then you may use your payroll tax set aside to fund them. You still don't have enough, you can apply for an advance from the IRS. And as of Friday, March 27, a whole new law is passed where...