Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

On April 10, the Department of Labor published corrections to its regulation on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and fixed an internal inconsistency regarding concurrent use of employer-provided paid time off and paid expanded family medical leave under the Act.

We previously covered the initial DOL rule on Families First here.  The Families First Act provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave for employees of small to mid-sized businesses for certain coronavirus-related reasons.

The Department of Labor issued its Final Rule regarding implementation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on April 1, but it does not resolve all outstanding questions for employers.

The Final Rule provides points of clarity on issues such as the definitions of health care provider and emergency responders, the small business exemption to the Act, and the effect of state or local stay-at-home orders on an employee’s right to take leave.  But it also contains some apparent internal inconsistencies, including whether employers can require employees to use employer-provided paid time off and partially paid Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act leave (“Emergency Family Medical Leave”) concurrently.