Paid Leave Requirements for COVID-19

Paid Leave Related to COVID-19

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), signed into law on March 18, 2020, now requires businesses with less than 500 employees to provide up to 80 hours of paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave if employees are unable to work because their children’s schools are closed or child care providers are unavailable. The benefits of this act are available starting on April 1, 2020 and will end as of December 31, 2020.

Click here for more details on the new leave requirements.

Refundable Payroll Tax Credits

The U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and U.S. Department of Labor announced plans to help make the new paid leave provisions in the FFCRA less burdensome for small businesses. Starting on March 20, 2020, employers can begin taking advantage of two new refundable payroll tax credits, designed to immediately and fully reimburse businesses for the cost of providing Coronavirus-related leave to their employees.

Key points of the plan include:

• Employers receive 100% reimbursement for paid leave pursuant to the FFCRA, including health insurance costs, and face no payroll tax liability.
• Self-employed individuals receive an equivalent credit.
• Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may be eligible for an exemption from the requirements to provide leave for child care when school is closed or care is unavailable.

The full announcement can be found on the IRS website here.

How Journyx Can Help

We want to do what we can to help other businesses maximize their efficiency with time tracking and continue to be successful and productive in this changing work environment.

Journyx can help your business adapt to the new paid leave requirements by setting up unique rules or filters in your Journyx timesheet system to manage Coronavirus-related leave requests or creating new project types that allow you to more accurately track employee time spent on certain related activities.

Please reach out to your Account Manager, or contact [email protected], to discuss how your specific needs can be captured and managed with Journyx’s time tracking software.