FMLA Expansion Under COVID-19

The Family Medical Leave Act traditional provides up to 90 days leave within a twelve-month period for people who are forced to miss work due to a medical condition or to care for a sick or injured family member. This is a federal law and it applies, typically, to employers with more than 50 employees. Also, workers are usually not eligible for leave under FMLA until they have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours for their employer.

However, under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, congress has expanded FMLA to cover more individuals who may be impacted by the pandemic. Specifically, FMLA leave is now extended to people who have worked 30 days or more with an employer. In addition, any employer with fewer than 500 employees is now subject to providing FMLA to its employees. As a caveat, for either of these extensions to apply, the employee’s medical condition and/or need to care for a family member must be related to COVID-19.

So, for workers who are infected with COVID-19 and have to miss work as a result, many more of them will have their jobs protected by FMLA. In addition, workers who need to miss work to care for a family member infected with COVID-19 are also much more likely to have their jobs protected by FMLA.

It is important to note that FMLA simply protects your job. It does not create a duty for the employer to provide pay while you are off work . However, congress did make it a requirement for employers to pay for two weeks’ sick pay for any workers infected by COVID-19 (this was also part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act).

It is also important to note that the FMLA extension expires on December 31, 2020. So, unless congress passes another COVID relief bill extending these protections further, employees’ rights revert to what they originally were under the old FMLA model.

There is widespread confusion about the state of the law during this pandemic. That applies to employer and employees alike. One of the goals of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was to put workers in a more stable position—i.e., the hope was that they would have a job to come back to if they had to take extended leave to care for themselves or loved ones infected with COVID-19. Whether employers will follow the law and the Act will achieve its intended purpose remains to be seen.

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