As you may recall, as of January 1, 2021, the paid sick leave and paid FMLA provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) became voluntary - no more mandate. But, employers could voluntarily provide paid leave and keep receiving tax credits through March 31, 2021. Welp, it's almost March 31, so now what?
Enter the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Let's start with what will remain the same:
- Still voluntary; and
- Still only applies to employers with fewer than 500 employees.
What's new as of April 1st?
- Extended through September 30, 2021.
- Each employee gets reset to 10 days of available paid sick leave (whether they used any time up through March 31st or not).
- In addition to the old qualifying events, FFCRA now covers employees who (1) are getting the vaccine (or recovering from the side effects); or (2) are awaiting the results of a test due to exposure or employer request.
- The tax credit limit for emergency paid family leave gets bumped from $10,000 to $12,000.
- Employers may not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees, full-time employees, or on the basis of employment tenure.
Some more overviews worth a read:
- Bruh (this will make sense when you read it), check out How will the American Rescue Plan’s FFCRA (paid leave) changes impact employers? from Eric Meyer.
- Jeff Nowak's Initial Take - which notes that it is unclear whether employees get a new bucket of 10 weeks for emergency paid family leave (on top of their new 10-day bucket of emergency paid sick leave). Spoiler alert: he tentatively concludes that, yes, there's a new 10-week bucket.
No comments:
Post a Comment