The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- United States Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (federal agency)
- Level
- Federal
- Authority
- Pub. L. 116-127 sections 3102(b) and 5111(3); Pub. L. 116-136 section 3611(7) (authority citation, 29 C.F.R. part 826)
- Issued
- 2020-04-01 Apr. 1, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-04-02 (operational Apr. 1, 2020) (read as 2020-04-02)
- End
- 2020-12-31 (rule effective through Dec. 31, 2020 by its DATES clause) (read as 2020-12-31)
- In force
- Apr. 2, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q4
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Schools and child careWorkplace rulesQuarantine and isolationOther
- Addressees
- private employers with fewer than 500 employees
- certain public employers
- employees
- Functions reached
- WF workforce availability: mandatory paid leave for quarantined, symptomatic, caregiving and school-closure-affected employees
- HR hiring, onboarding and scheduling around mandated leave
- OP payroll, recordkeeping (826.140), notice posting (826.80) and documentation (826.100)
- CB customer-facing staffing reduced by mandated absences
- Collection
- Federal labor and immigration agencies AGY-FED-LABOR-IMMIGRATION
Operative words
826.20(a)(1): An Employer shall provide to each of its Employees Paid Sick Leave to the extent that Employee is unable to work due to any of the following reasons: (i) The Employee is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19; (ii) The Employee has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19; (iii) The Employee is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking medical diagnosis from a health care provider; (iv) The Employee is caring for an individual who is subject to an order as described in this paragraph (a)(1)(i) or directed as described in this paragraph (a)(1)(ii); (v) The Employee is caring for his or her Son or Daughter whose School or Place of Care has been closed for a period of time, whether by order of a State or local official or authority or at the decision of the individual School or Place of Care, or the Child Care Provider of such Son or Daughter is unavailable, for reasons related to COVID-19... 826.40(a): Any private entity or individual who employs fewer than 500 Employees must provide Paid Sick Leave and Expanded Family and Medical Leave, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section or in 826.30(c). DATES: This rule is effective from April 2, 2020, through December 31, 2020.
Enforcement
29 C.F.R. 826.150(a)-(b): an Employer is prohibited from discharging, disciplining, or discriminating against any Employee because such Employee took Paid Sick Leave; an Employer who fails to provide Paid Sick Leave is considered to have failed to pay minimum wages in violation of FLSA section 6 and is subject to FLSA sections 16 and 17 remedies (back pay, liquidated damages, injunction); 826.151 (EFMLEA enforcement through FMLA section 107); 826.153 (Secretary's investigative authority)
Notes
Reaches every private employer under 500 employees in every industry, including health care (optional exclusion of health care providers and emergency responders under 826.30(c)) and small employers under 50 (documented exemption for child-care leave under 826.40(b)). The rule's preamble records that the FFCRA leave interlocks with State and local quarantine, isolation and school-closure orders: leave reason (i) exists only because governmental orders confined workers, and reason (v) exists only because governmental orders closed schools and places of care.
Retrieval noteRead from the Federal Register text on govinfo. Corrected by 85 Fed. Reg. 20156 (Ex. 047); portions vacated in New York v. U.S. Dep't of Labor, 477 F. Supp. 3d 1 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 3, 2020) and reissued at 85 Fed. Reg. 57677 (Ex. 002).