The flood of information being produced by the government on the pandemic continues.
Last night, the U.S. Department of Labor published a second round of guidance that is designed to help employers manage Paid Sick Leave and paid FMLA leave (EPSL and FMLA+). (H/T FMLA Insights for the summary.)
This is different than the initial guidance that came out earlier this week because it answers some important questions that had been left unresolved.
Here’s some of the items to know about:
- Just like FMLA, employees can be required to submit documentation to support the need for leave.
- Employees must generally take the leave in full-day increments.
- The DOL has clarified that intermittent leave can be taken for child care reasons but only with the employer consent.
- Importantly, resolving an issue that I discussed on this blog before, an employee is not eligible for paid leave during a furlough or temporary layoff.
- Employees are also not allowed to “top off” their paid leave payments by using accrued paid time off, unless their employers agree.
The guidance also talks a lot about the interplay between telework and the FFCRA, including when an employee who is teleworking can still be eligible for the leave.
Suffice to say, there’s more to this than a brief recap can capture, but employers who are in the midst of implementing this, should review the entire guidance here.