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FFCRA LEAVE TRACKING CHALLENGES? HELP IS HERE!

In these unprecedented times, we understand the challenges you’re facing due to the COVID-19 virus. Mostly because we are facing some of those challenges too. This is a tough time for everyone, but if we continue to support and look after each other, we will see brighter days sooner rather than later. We are all in this together.

In addition to the work-from-home and school disruptions, social distancing, and a weird shortage of toilet paper, we have new federal time-off regulations to manage due to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). There also are possible tax credits for eligible employers who track and report correctly.

In this Blog, we’ll cover the new regulatory requirements, why it’s now so important to have a robust employee Time-Off tracking system, and our offer to give you Flock’s Time-Off Tracking Module, Free. Forever. It’s our small contribution towards helping us be better together while we are apart.

These new rules get a bit complicated, but stick with us. The “How Flock Helps You Comply” section at the bottom of the post talks about how we help make compliance easy.

About FFCRA

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a temporary rule-making on April 1 implementing the FFCRA. The rule is effective through Dec. 31. According to the DOL, one of the provisions contained in the act states:

FFCRA helps the United States combat the workplace effects of COVID-19 by reimbursing American private employers that have fewer than 500 employees with tax credits for the cost of providing employees with paid leave taken for specified reasons related to COVID-19. The law enables employers to keep their workers on their payrolls, while at the same time ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus. The Department’s Wage and Hour Division administers the paid leave portions of the FFCRA. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/ffcra

However, it’s not as cut and dry as that.

There are multiple qualifying reasons for leave, and they all don’t have the same compensation and duration of leave requirements. This gets a little complicated, but we have a solution at the end to help simplify things for your company. This section, and the following two sections, are sourced from the DOL website.

According to the DOL, under the FFCRA, an employee qualifies for paid sick time if the employee is unable to work (or unable to telework) due to a need for leave because the employee:

Is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
Has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine related to COVID-19;
Is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and is seeking a medical diagnosis;
Is caring for an individual subject to an order described in (1) or self-quarantine as described in (2);
Is caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed (or child care provider is unavailable) for reasons related to COVID-19; or
Is experiencing any other substantially-similar condition specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of Labor and Treasury.

Compensation and duration of leave requirements vary by qualifying reason

For reasons (1)-(4) and (6): A full-time employee is eligible for 80 hours of leave, and a part-time employee is eligible for the number of hours of leave that the employee works on average over a two-week period.
For reason (5): A full-time employee is eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave (two weeks of paid sick leave followed by up to 10 weeks of paid expanded family & medical leave) at 40 hours a week, and a part-time employee is eligible for leave for the number of hours that the employee is normally scheduled to work over that period.

Calculation of Pay

For leave reasons (1), (2), or (3): employees taking leave are entitled to pay at either their regular rate or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher, up to $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate (over a 2-week period).
For leave reasons (4) or (6): employees taking leave are entitled to pay at 2/3 their regular rate or 2/3 the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher, up to $200 per day and $2,000 in the aggregate (over a 2-week period).
For leave reason (5): employees taking leave are entitled to pay at 2/3 their regular rate or 2/3 the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher, up to $200 per day and $12,000 in the aggregate (over a 12-week period).

How Flock Helps You Comply

As you can see, this can get complicated. In the spirit of helping one another, and to help companies manage and comply with the new regulations for FFCRA, we are offering our robust Time-Off Tracking module - FREE - to any company that signs up for it before December 31, 2020. For clarity, the Time-Off Tracking module is free to use, forever, as long as an employer signs up before December 31, 2020.

Flock’s Time-Off Tracking Module makes it easy to configure time-off policies and manage the newly expanded medical leave policies under FFCRA. Manage time off requests. Approve leave requests and sync to payroll and calendar of your choice. Equally important, when it comes time to claim any applicable tax credits, you can simply choose from one of the pre-configured Reports to get the data you need.

LEARN MORE ABOUT FLOCK’S FREE TIME OFF MODULE

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