Post by Beth on Mar 23, 2020 18:17:46 GMT
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act became law last Wednesday.
It contains provisions adapting school meal programs and access to WIC (Women with Infant Children) benefits and nutrition assistance program benefits to the Coronavirus crisis, and also provides free COVID-19 testing for Medicare recipients.
Additional notable provisions:
Employer-paid medical leave: For the remainder of 2020 only, it expands the federal Family and Medical Leave act, and after the first 10 days of medical leave (which are unpaid), it requires employers to provide up to a maximum of $200/day (calculated based on individual employee income) in paid leave benefits to people who need medical leave or caregiver leave (for an immediate family member) specifically related to COVID-19. The temporary amendment to the Family and Medical Leave Act does not apply to any other medical condition or basis for leave-taking. Note that employers will foot the bill temporarily, but the Act enables employers to fully recoup expenses as a tax credit, meaning that the federal budget will ultimately cover the cost. Family and medical leave is capped at $10,000 in total, so at the maximum of $200/day for 5 days per week, that would cover up to 10 weeks in total. As I understand the text and the original provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the requirement does not apply to small employers, or to new employees. Whether people employed as private contractors (such as uber and lyft drivers) can be covered is also unclear. In general, some part-time employees may be eligible.
The Act also allows employers to opt to exclude healthcare workers and emergency responders from protection. There is no explanation in the actual text of the law for this exception, and I have not yet looked at any of the Congressional record or footage, so my analysis of the reasoning behind the exception is speculative.
The Act also prohibits retaliation, and provides some basic enforcement provisions, to hold employers who do not comply accountable.
Employer-paid sick leave: The act creates a paid sick leave requirement related to COVID-19 only for the remainder of 2020, that must be provided by most employers to many (but not all) employees, for up to 80 hours in total for full-time employees, and a lesser pro-rated amount for part-time employees. The pay rate matches the employee's regular wages, and is capped at just over $500 per day. Failing to provide sick leave under the terms provided will be treated as a violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which then can generate fines and penalties. Whether an employee is covered depends on pre-existing legislation, and again will leave some loopholes that may not protect some employees who are working as contractors.
Federal grants to states to expand unemployment insurance coverage: The Act essentially is allocating money to states to meet the demands of increasing unemployment claims. There are no explicit requirements in the Act to expand access to unemployment insurance to people who do not already qualify for unemployment insurance under state regulations (which again, may include some workers employed as private contractors), so any expansion in that direction would have to be done state-by-state, or by future federal legislation.
A few comments:
This is the first time in the U.S. that there has ever been a federal requirement that private employers provide any form of paid medical or caregiver leave, and similarly, a first in terms of a sweeping requirement of employer-provided paid sick leave. All of the new benefits are limited only to COVID-19, and expire on December 31, 2020. Unions and feminists have been pushing for paid family and medical leave for years, and my hope would be that if there's enough public pressure, this shift in legislation will become a catalyst for more permanent expansions in 2021 and beyond.
I would however, like to see the provision of tax credits for the cost of providing medical leave be calibrated to the employer size, so that very large employers (Coca-Cola, Disney, etc) be expected to actually share some or all of the cost, rather than just have this expansion ultimately reduce corporate federal tax revenue, which will then add to the federal budget deficit. In addition, the Act does not provide any support for employers in the non-profit sector, many of whom will need to comply with the law, but will not get any relief from the tax credit provided to employers, since they are already tax-exempt organizations. As a consequence, we may see non-profit organizations providing vital services have to cut back on service provision in order to cover costs of employee medical leave.
Although every one of the forms of relief provided in the new Act are obviously needed (and several are too shallow, or will need to be expanded to work equitably and effectively) -- it bears noting that with a recession basically inevitable, the cost of the relief will add significantly to our already unprecedented federal deficit. To see data on our current national debt, click here.
In this context, one of the particularly vital questions is whether Congress will advance "bailouts", providing hundreds of billions of additional dollars to industries that are losing revenue due to the pandemic, such as the airline industry, essentially to replace lost profits, and minimize the impact on stockholders and executives (such bailouts would not protect employees from layoffs!). For a recent interview by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on this issue, click here.
Many of us will really want and at least sometimes need to just focus on health, family, and economic adaptation and survival during the pandemic. It's not small to also need to make sense of and respond to the policy and economic landscape at the same time. However, likely before we have a vaccine for COVID-19, we'll be facing massive economic challenges -- which will jeopardize even more lives, through food and housing insecurity, declining mental and physical health, and the strong prospect of escalating racism in policing and mass incarceration. So it's a vital time to think about how to engage in more digital and phone civic participation, and how to advance related education and dialogue.
It contains provisions adapting school meal programs and access to WIC (Women with Infant Children) benefits and nutrition assistance program benefits to the Coronavirus crisis, and also provides free COVID-19 testing for Medicare recipients.
Additional notable provisions:
Employer-paid medical leave: For the remainder of 2020 only, it expands the federal Family and Medical Leave act, and after the first 10 days of medical leave (which are unpaid), it requires employers to provide up to a maximum of $200/day (calculated based on individual employee income) in paid leave benefits to people who need medical leave or caregiver leave (for an immediate family member) specifically related to COVID-19. The temporary amendment to the Family and Medical Leave Act does not apply to any other medical condition or basis for leave-taking. Note that employers will foot the bill temporarily, but the Act enables employers to fully recoup expenses as a tax credit, meaning that the federal budget will ultimately cover the cost. Family and medical leave is capped at $10,000 in total, so at the maximum of $200/day for 5 days per week, that would cover up to 10 weeks in total. As I understand the text and the original provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the requirement does not apply to small employers, or to new employees. Whether people employed as private contractors (such as uber and lyft drivers) can be covered is also unclear. In general, some part-time employees may be eligible.
The Act also allows employers to opt to exclude healthcare workers and emergency responders from protection. There is no explanation in the actual text of the law for this exception, and I have not yet looked at any of the Congressional record or footage, so my analysis of the reasoning behind the exception is speculative.
The Act also prohibits retaliation, and provides some basic enforcement provisions, to hold employers who do not comply accountable.
Employer-paid sick leave: The act creates a paid sick leave requirement related to COVID-19 only for the remainder of 2020, that must be provided by most employers to many (but not all) employees, for up to 80 hours in total for full-time employees, and a lesser pro-rated amount for part-time employees. The pay rate matches the employee's regular wages, and is capped at just over $500 per day. Failing to provide sick leave under the terms provided will be treated as a violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which then can generate fines and penalties. Whether an employee is covered depends on pre-existing legislation, and again will leave some loopholes that may not protect some employees who are working as contractors.
Federal grants to states to expand unemployment insurance coverage: The Act essentially is allocating money to states to meet the demands of increasing unemployment claims. There are no explicit requirements in the Act to expand access to unemployment insurance to people who do not already qualify for unemployment insurance under state regulations (which again, may include some workers employed as private contractors), so any expansion in that direction would have to be done state-by-state, or by future federal legislation.
A few comments:
This is the first time in the U.S. that there has ever been a federal requirement that private employers provide any form of paid medical or caregiver leave, and similarly, a first in terms of a sweeping requirement of employer-provided paid sick leave. All of the new benefits are limited only to COVID-19, and expire on December 31, 2020. Unions and feminists have been pushing for paid family and medical leave for years, and my hope would be that if there's enough public pressure, this shift in legislation will become a catalyst for more permanent expansions in 2021 and beyond.
I would however, like to see the provision of tax credits for the cost of providing medical leave be calibrated to the employer size, so that very large employers (Coca-Cola, Disney, etc) be expected to actually share some or all of the cost, rather than just have this expansion ultimately reduce corporate federal tax revenue, which will then add to the federal budget deficit. In addition, the Act does not provide any support for employers in the non-profit sector, many of whom will need to comply with the law, but will not get any relief from the tax credit provided to employers, since they are already tax-exempt organizations. As a consequence, we may see non-profit organizations providing vital services have to cut back on service provision in order to cover costs of employee medical leave.
Although every one of the forms of relief provided in the new Act are obviously needed (and several are too shallow, or will need to be expanded to work equitably and effectively) -- it bears noting that with a recession basically inevitable, the cost of the relief will add significantly to our already unprecedented federal deficit. To see data on our current national debt, click here.
In this context, one of the particularly vital questions is whether Congress will advance "bailouts", providing hundreds of billions of additional dollars to industries that are losing revenue due to the pandemic, such as the airline industry, essentially to replace lost profits, and minimize the impact on stockholders and executives (such bailouts would not protect employees from layoffs!). For a recent interview by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on this issue, click here.
Many of us will really want and at least sometimes need to just focus on health, family, and economic adaptation and survival during the pandemic. It's not small to also need to make sense of and respond to the policy and economic landscape at the same time. However, likely before we have a vaccine for COVID-19, we'll be facing massive economic challenges -- which will jeopardize even more lives, through food and housing insecurity, declining mental and physical health, and the strong prospect of escalating racism in policing and mass incarceration. So it's a vital time to think about how to engage in more digital and phone civic participation, and how to advance related education and dialogue.