The Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA), passed in March 2020, provided for two types of emergency leave for employees affected by COVID-19 – Emergency Paid Sick Leave and Expanded Paid FMLA. FFCRA leave benefits expire on December 31, 2020.
The recently passed Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act, signed into law December 27, 2020, provides a voluntary extension of FFCRA benefits. The new law does not extend an employee’s right to FFCRA emergency paid leave beyond December 31, 2020, but allows employers to claim payroll tax credits through March 31, 2021 should they elect to provide benefits to qualified employees.
Specific to the FFCRA:
- Beginning January 1, 2021, employers are not required to provide employees with paid FFCRA leave, which includes both COVID-related emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) and emergency family and medical leave (EFMLA). However, employees may still be entitled to paid sick leave or emergency COVID leave under state or local law.
- For employers that voluntarily provide paid sick and family and medical leave that would have otherwise qualified as FFCRA leave:
- Federal payroll tax credits are extended through March 31, 2021 (if the individual did not exhaust their maximum FFCRA leave allotment and the leave did not expire on December 31, 2020).
- Employees do not get a new bank of FFCRA hours in 2021 – the amount they have available on January 1, 2021 is how much they can use through March 31, 2021. There is a possible exception if employers use the calendar year or another fixed FMLA tracking period that starts before March 31, 2021.
California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law expires on December 31, 2020, or upon the expiration of leave provisions of the FFCRA. Unless the state amends the law, California’s leave law likely will expire at the end of the year.
The IRS and DOL will soon provide more information and detailed guidance on the act’s implementation. We anticipate an update to the FFCRA's FAQ which can be found on the DOL's website.
If you have questions regarding this voluntary extension or any other FFCRA-related questions, please reach out to M&G's HR Business Consulting Department at 805-543-6887 or email:
