Improving workplace health & safety through collaboration

Create Account | Log in
Articles COVID-19 pandemic: Trump signs emergency paid sick leave bill into law
Share Share
Print

COVID-19 pandemic: Trump signs emergency paid sick leave bill into law

Principal Author / Publisher:Kim Minju
Editors: SAFETYHOW ADMIN , Erwin Lagrimas

Last Edited: Jun 16, 2020 By: Erwin Lagrimas

Article Rating:
Body

Washington — Employers with fewer than 500 employees, as well as all government employers, must provide 80 hours of emergency paid sick leave to full-time workers who are in quarantine as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking diagnosis or preventive care for the illness, or caring for affected family members, under legislation signed into law March 18 by President Donald Trump.

Earlier in the day on March 18, the Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) after receiving on March 17 an amended version of what the House had approved the previous weekend.

The new law entitles part-time employees to a number of paid sick hours equal to their average hours worked over a two-week period.

Additionally, the law amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 by allowing workers under the employment parameters mentioned above up to 10 weeks of paid family leave to care for a child of an employee if the child’s school or place of care has been closed, or the care provider is unavailable “due to a public health emergency” such as COVID-19.

The law also authorizes the secretary of labor to “exclude certain health care providers and emergency responders” from the paid sick leave or child care provisions. Further, organizations with fewer than 50 employees may be exempted from the provisions should the Department of Labor determine “the imposition of such requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the initial measure March 5.

“This is a commonsense step,” Murray said on the Senate floor March 18. “It’s good for workers who need to stay home if they are sick or need to take care of family – without losing a job or paycheck. And it’s good for small businesses, who want to keep their workers and communities safe, and who are struggling to stay afloat during this sudden crisis.”

According to a March 11 report published in The Hill, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, blocked an effort to pass the initial bill by unanimous consent, which would have waived a vote.

Although Alexander expressed that he had “significant issues” with the legislation during his March 18 Senate floor remarks – namely those concerning small businesses – he nonetheless voted in favor of the measure, helping it pass by a 90-8 vote.

“If Washington, D.C., is going to require small businesses, many of which are struggling or going out of business, to pay a new mandate, Washington should pay for it,” Alexander said, according to a press release from his office. “This is no time to impose an expensive new mandate or unexpected new costs when they don’t have the money coming in to pay for the normal costs. So I’m afraid, as a result of this, many employers worried about this provision may have an incentive to lay off their employees.”

Article Rating

This article has been read 196 times.

DISCLAIMER: All contents published on this website is for informational purposes only. In as much as we encourage write-ups to be originally written by the claimed authors, we might not be able to control those who will try to copy articles from other authors/writers. In view of the above, the owner and management of Safetyhow.com will not be liable for any loses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of the contents herein. Likewise, the owner and management will not be liable for any errors or omissions in the information stated. Furthermore, we highly recommend that any form of plagiarism or libel committed as a result or implication of the articles written by any specific author in this platform be reported to us immediately so that appropriate action will be given.

BROWSE ARTICLE BY CATEGORY

BROWSE ARTICLE BY INDUSTRY