Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act

The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), which requires that employers with fewer than 500 employees provide sick and family leave benefits for certain COVID-19 related reasons, is due to sunset on December 31, 2020. Many believed that the FFCRA’s sick and family leave provisions would be extended into 2021 as part of the

***Updated on April 13, 2020***

On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) posted a “temporary rule” issuing regulations, to implement the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (“EFMLEA”) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (“EPSLA”) provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).

The regulations

*** Please note that the Department of Labor is updating (and in some cases revising) its initial guidance on a rolling basis, so be sure to click on the Questions and Answers link for the most current version. A blog post on the most recent updates to the guidance can be found here. ***

*** UPDATE: The Department of Labor has issued guidance stating that the law will take effect on April 1, 2020.  More information on the guidance can be found on our blog post here.***

On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into the law the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Family First Act” or

*** IMPORTANT NOTE: On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed an amended version of the Family First Coronavirus Response Act into law that modifies some of the provisions discussed below.  Read more on our updated blog post here. ***

On March 14, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 6201, also