Client Alert: New DOL Guidance Regarding COVID-19 and the Workplace

By Cesira Newcomb  •  March 25, 2020

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (“DOL”) has recently published COVID-19-related guidance and Q&A’s for employers and employees.

Two of these pages, titled Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employee Paid Leave Rights and Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employer Paid Leave Requirements, summarize the rights and obligations of employers and employees under the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).

In addition, the DOL has released a Q&A titled Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers that contains important new information for employers.  Among other things, the Q&A identifies April 1, 2020 as the effective date of the FFCRA, provides guidance regarding calculation of paid leave, and clarifies the tests used to determine whether a business is under the 500-employee threshold.

The webpages also include two Q&A’s, titled COVID-19 and the Fair Labor Standards Act and COVID-19 and the Family and Medical Leave Act, that address employers’ obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).