FFCRA (Families First Coronavirus Response Act) Not Extended

The requirement that employers provide paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) expired on Dec. 31, 2020. The Wage and Hour Division of the Dept of Labor has issued a FFCRA Questions and Answers page (Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov). The site has 105 questions and answers.

 

One question in particular may be helpful from this article:

 

Your employer is not required to provide you with FFCRA leave after December 31, 2020, but your employer may voluntarily decide to provide you such leave. The obligation to provide FFCRA leave applies from the law’s effective date of April 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. Any change to extend the requirement to provide leave under the FFCRA would require an amendment to the statute by Congress. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, extended employer tax credits for paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave voluntarily provided to employees until March 31, 2021. However, this Act did not extend an eligible employee’s entitlement to FFCRA leave beyond December 31, 2020.

Employers with questions about claiming the refundable tax credits for qualified leave wages should consult with the IRS.  Information can be found on the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/new-employer-tax-credits.

 

An employer may prohibit an employee from coming to the workplace, but you have to be very careful about this because of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and an employee may request time off due to exposure to the coronavirus. 

 

Here is an article that explains more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/10/politics/paid-sick-leave-covid-benefit-expiration/index.html.