PODCAST Congress Responds A Closer Look at the Families First and CARES Acts 

March, 2020 - Kierstin Jodway, Mark Peters

Welcome to PointByPoint.

Conversations, interviews and legal commentary for today's business professionals.

In this episode, Waller’s Mark Peters talks with employment attorney Kierstin Jodway about two of the major federal stimulus packages related to the coronavirus and what it means for businesses.

Here is a transcript of the conversation:

Mark

Kierstin, thanks for being with us today. One of the topics that I wanted to cover today was the Families First Act that was passed and signed into law last week. And, of course, that act provides for an expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act as well as some additional paid sick leave benefits. One of the fundamental questions that folks have is “am I covered?” How does an employer know if it is covered or not under the Families First Act?

Kierstin

Thank you, Mark. Yes, that's the first question that companies have to look at and so to fall within the Families First Act, a company has to have fewer than 500 employees. When counting employees, the employer should count part time, full time temporary employees and even day laborers. So independent contractors wouldn't be included, but those other categories would be included. There is a potential exemption, and it applies for employers with fewer than 50 employees, if providing the leave would jeopardize the company going forward from a financial perspective.

Mark

On that point, how does the company know, or how would a company document, how would a company let the Department of Labor, which is the federal agency responsible for enforcing this act, that they believe they fall within that 50 employees exemption?

Kierstin

So if a company has fewer than 50 employees and they're looking at their books and think that they just cannot continue to run the organization and provide the leave under the act, then they're going to want to document that. But at this point, based on the information we have from the Department of Labor, which is in charge of enforcing the Families First Act, they've asked that employers just document that and the reasons why they think they fall within the exception but not provide any information quite yet to the deal.

 

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