Payroll Compliance

The District of Columbia has enacted an emergency ordinance that requires employers with employees to provide paid leave to employees impacted by COVID-19. The emergency ordinance took effect immediately and has been extended until November 16, 2020. For employers with 15 or fewer employees, this paid sick leave requirement takes effect January 1, 2022. Operates a hospital if such employer provides its employees, within two weeks of the effective date of the ordinance, with some combination of paid personal leave at least equivalent to the paid sick leave required by the ordinance.

For example, an employer may decide to exempt these employees from leave for caring for a family member but choose to provide them paid sick leave in the case of their own COVID-19 illness. The City Council amended the ordinance to allow employees to take leave when any family member’s (not just their child’s) school or place of care has been closed for any reason. For employers with 250 or more full-time equivalent employees, employees can also take leave when their place of business has been closed for any health or safety reason. The law doesn’t require a hiring entity to change its existing sick leave policies or provide additional paid leave if it already provides paid sick leave that meets or exceeds the requirements of the law. Under existing policies, employees must be able to use their leave for the same purposes and under the same conditions. The City of Pittsburgh’s Paid Sick Days Act , effective March 15, 2020, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to employees working within the geographic boundaries of Pittsburgh. The temporary rule permits eligible employees to also use sick-child leave to care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed in conjunction with a statewide public health emergency declared by a public health official.

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Colorado has enacted legislation (Senate Bill ) that will require employers to provide paid sick leave and public health emergency leave to employees. The leave must be paid at least at the same rate the employee normally earns during worked hours. In July, the state also enacted the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act , which requires employers to provide paid sick leave and public health emergency leave to employees. The leave must be paid at least at the same rate the employee normally earns during working hours. In September, Philadelphia issued two paid sick leave ordinances, Ordinance and , amending the City’s paid sick and safe time law, known as PHFWO.

Since the FFCRA already covers employers with fewer than 500 employees, Senate Bill effectively extends the emergency paid sick leave requirements to larger employers so that all employers in the state must now comply with the FFCRA leave requirements. However, the FFCRA also included an exception under which an employer of a healthcare provider or an emergency responder may elect to exclude the employee from the federal emergency paid sick leave requirement. As a result of the new state law, these employees are now entitled to emergency paid sick leave in Colorado. Under the new state law, small employers in Colorado will no longer be able to claim that exemption. In the emergency rules and guidance, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment makes clear that all Colorado employers must provide employees access to up to 80 hours of PHEL as of January 1, 2021 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The CDLE also clarifies that employers cannot count COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave (see #3 above) provided in 2020 toward the PHEL that state law requires. In addition to the paid sick leave discussed above, employers must provide public health emergency leave in an amount based on the number of hours the employee works.

The OFLA requires employers with 25 or more employees to provide eligible workers with unpaid, job protected leave to care for themselves or family members in certain circumstances. Generally, to be eligible for leave, an employee must be employed for the 180 day calendar period immediately preceding the leave and have worked at least an average of 25 hours per week during the 180-day period, though there are some exceptions. SB 2304 also amends the New Jersey Family Leave Act , which provides unpaid, job protected leave in the event an employee needs to care for a family member with a serious health condition . The NJFLA applies to employers with 30 or more employees and provides 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 24-month period. DC has enacted an emergency ordinance that amends the Act to require that employers with between 50 and 499 employees provide paid leave for any of the reasons required under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act .

Accrual begins when employment starts or the applicable effective date, whichever is later. However, employers have the option of providing all the paid sick leave at the beginning of the year. Employees are entitled to carry over up to 48 hours of unused paid sick leave to the following year. Under the federal law, employers with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or child care unavailability if it would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern. Santa Rosa’s ordinance doesn’t apply to any employer that qualifies for this exemption. During the emergency paid sick leave, the employer must generally pay employees their regular rate of pay or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher, up to a maximum of $511 per day (and a total of $5,110). Employers must provide full-time employees with 80 hours of emergency paid sick leave.

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Employers with fewer than 50 employees may also be exempt from the law’s requirements to provide paid leave to an employee who is caring for their child due to their school or place of care being closed, or their childcare provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19. The exemption would be available only if that requirement would jeopardize the viability of the business. The city of San Jose has adopted an emergency ordinance that will require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees if they are exempt from the leave requirements under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act . Under the federal law, employers of healthcare providers and emergency responders may exclude these employees from emergency paid sick leave. The ordinance also extends emergency paid sick leave requirements to employers with 500 or more employees nationally, which aren’t covered by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide emergency paid sick leave to employees who are unable to work because of certain reasons related to COVID-19. The FFCRA is in effect from April 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, unless extended.

Effective January 1, 2021, employers with 16 or more employees must provide paid sick leave to their employees. Paid sick leave must accrue at a rate of at least one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 48 hours.

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This time is in addition to PSDA time and any paid leave or sick time provided by an employer. The City of Pittsburgh has adopted a temporary ordinance that requires employers to provide leave for certain COVID-19 related reasons to employees who work within the city. The ordinance is in effect from December 9, 2020, until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Employers must provide employees with a written notice of their rights and display a poster developed by the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics.

Ordinance amends the city’s paid sick and safe time law (also known as the Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces Ordinance ). Ordinance requires new public health emergency leave for workers who do not receive leave under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act . To the extent that federal or state law requires employers to provide paid leave or paid sick time related to COVID-19, employers may substitute leave under the federal or state law to meet the obligations of this ordinance. In order to be able to do so, an employee must be able to use such leave for the same purposes and under the same conditions. However, employers are required to provide additional COVID-19 sick time under the ordinance to the extent the ordinance exceeds the requirements of the federal or state law. Under the ordinance, employers in Pittsburgh with 50 or more employees working in the city must provide employees with up to 80 hours of COVID-19 sick time.

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The amendments require new public health emergency leave and pay protections for employees, gig workers, and others who do not receive leave under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act . COVID-19 sick time must be provided to eligible employees immediately, without any waiting period or accrual requirements. Employees may use this leave until one week following the official conclusion or suspension of the public health emergency. Under the law, an employer of a healthcare provider or an emergency responder may elect to exclude the employee from the application of paid leave.

• Since the FFCRA already covers employers with fewer than 500 employees, Senate Bill effectively extends the emergency paid sick leave requirements to larger employers so that all employers in the state must now comply with the FFCRA leave requirements.
• In the emergency rules and guidance, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment makes clear that all Colorado employers must provide employees access to up to 80 hours of PHEL as of January 1, 2021 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
• However, the FFCRA also included an exception under which an employer of a healthcare provider or an emergency responder may elect to exclude the employee from the federal emergency paid sick leave requirement.
• As a result of the new state law, these employees are now entitled to emergency paid sick leave in Colorado.
• Under the new state law, small employers in Colorado will no longer be able to claim that exemption.

The poster must be displayed in English and in any language that is the first language spoken by at least 5% of the employer’s workforce. If an employer’s business is closed due to a public health emergency or a disaster emergency due to a public health concern, the posting requirement is waived for the period during which the business is closed. Requires employers of healthcare providers and emergency responders to provide emergency paid sick leave to these employees. On April 7, 2020, San Jose adopted an ordinance that required employers to provide paid sick leave to employees if they were exempt from the leave requirements under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act . The FFCRA only applied to employers with fewer than 500 employees and included certain other exemptions.

Compliance Recommendation:

The city’s ordinance was meant to address the gaps in the FFCRA and was set to expire on December 31, 2020. The city of San Jose has adopted an emergency ordinance that extends and expands a requirement for employers to provide paid sick leave to employees for reasons related to COVID-19. All employers with at least one covered employee are required to provide paid sick leave, regardless of whether the employer has a worksite in the city or is subject to the city’s business license requirements. Employed as a health care provider or emergency responder by a hiring entity that has elected to exclude such employees from the FFCRA’s emergency paid sick leave requirements. The Promoting Healthy Families and Workplace Act requires employers to provide paid sick leave to employees who work in Philadelphia at least 40 hours in a year. Under the Act, an employee accrues one hour of sick leave per 40 hours worked, which includes any overtime.

Exempt administrative, executive or professional employees accrue sick leave based on their normal workweek or a 40-hour workweek, whichever is less. Employers with employees in DC should ensure compliance with the leave requirements and provide impacted employees information about expanded unemployment benefits. Keep in mind that the DCFMLA has existing notice and other requirements that may apply, barring further guidance or rules from the district. Employees are only eligible for PHEL in the amounts described above once during the entirety of the public health emergency, even if it is amended, extended, restated, or prolonged. Employees may use PHEL until four weeks after the official public health emergency. Employers may count an employee’s unused paid sick leave toward the PHEL the law requires.

Part-time employees are entitled to paid sick leave amounting to the average number of hours they work over a two-week period. The ordinance also requires employers with 500 or more employees nationally to provide additional paid sick leave for employees that can be used for COVID-19-related reasons. The new rules also require that the minimum wage and paid sick leave notice employers must provide with the first paycheck be printed on and scaled to fit a sheet of paper that measures 8.5 inches by 11 inches. However, where employees are enrolled in direct deposit but have the option to review their pay stubs electronically, employers may provide the notice through the employers’ usual methods of electronic communication. Chicago has published rules and enacted two ordinances that will expand coverage under the city’s paid sick leave law, create new notice and recordkeeping requirements, and prohibit adverse action against employees because of COVID-19. To minimize the spread of the virus associated with COVID-19, the DOL encourages employers to be judicious when using this definition to exempt healthcare providers from the provisions of the FFCRA.

Employees who normally work 40 hours or more per week are entitled to at least 80 hours of PHEL. Employees who normally work fewer than 40 hours in a week are entitled to at least the greater of either the amount of time the employee is scheduled to work in a 14-day period or the amount of time the employee actually works during an average 14-day period.