Families First Coronavirus Response Act

By Joy Burkhard, MBA, Mom Congress

On Wednesday, March 18, President Trump signed the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” shortly after the Senate approved the legislation with a 90-8 vote.

(Last week, the House of Representatives approved a version of the bill which incorporated bipartisan technical changes, including paid sick leave and changes to the temporary increase of federal medical assistance percentages for Medicaid.)

Here are the pertinent highlights:

Paid Leave

• Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act: Private sector employers with fewer than 500 workers and all public sector employers would have to provide paid sick leave of 2 weeks for full-time employees and average hours for a two-week period for part-time employees due to an isolation or quarantine order or advisory, or experiencing symptoms; or caring for a family member or for a child whose school or place of care is closed due to a public emergency. Benefits are capped at $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate for those on leave because of their own health issue, or $200 per day and $2,000 in the aggregate to care for others. The Department of Labor is authorized to issue regulations to exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. The bill’s definition of employer is intended to include nonprofit employers.

• Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act: Private sector employers with fewer than 500 workers and government entities would have to provide as many as 12 weeks of job-protected leave to employees to care for a child whose school or place of care is closed. The first 10 days could be unpaid, although a worker could choose to use other accrued leave. Employers would be required to pay employees two-thirds of their wages, not to exceed $200 per day and $10,000 in the aggregate. Since nonprofits are subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act, this provision of the bill would apply to nonprofit organizations. The Labor Department is authorized to issue regulations to exclude certain health care providers and exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

• Employer tax credits for paid sick and family and medical leave: Employers may claim a 100% refundable payroll tax credit on wages associated with paid sick and medical leave outlined in the bill as well as expenditures associated with additional health benefit contributions. Any additional wages paid due to the leave requirement are not be subject to the employer portion of the payroll tax. Nonprofit organizations are able to apply the tax credit to payroll taxes.

Domestic Nutrition Assistance Programs

• Provides an additional $500 million for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

• Grants an additional $400 million to the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

• Permits the Department of Agriculture to approve new state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) for low-income families in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

• Permits the Secretary of Agriculture to issue new nationwide school meal waivers.