FFCRA Poster

*April 2021 Update*

All provisions under The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) expired as of 12/31/2020.  If you experienced one of the below qualifying FFCRA reasons during the period of 4/1/2020 12/31/2020 and did not submit a claim, you may still have an opportunity to do so.  Please contact FMLASource to initiate a retroactively FFCRA claim. Unfortunately, employees cannot submit any new claims under FFCRA as of January 1, 2021.  However, employees that are unable to work as a result of a mandatory quarantine (sick/exposure) due to the following reasons should contact FMLASource to initiate an FMLA claim:

1. Required to quarantine or isolate by Federal, State, or local officials because of COVID-19
2. Advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine because employee may have COVID-19 or was exposed
3. Experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis

For employee unable to work due to a COVID19 sickness and/or exposure, they should follow the below sequence of using their respective bank(s):

• Charge PMLA (for eligible employee classes) or
• Charge Illness Bank
• Request Shared Sick/Illness Time (up to 112 hours/max)
• Charge Vacation Bank
• Approved Absence without Pay

Employees unable to work due to the need to care for an eligible family member (in accordance with FMLA guidelines) as a result of a COVID-19 illness or exposure should contact FMLASource to initiate an FMLA claim. During this time, the employee should follow the below sequence of using their respective bank(s):

• Charge PMLA (for eligible employee classes)
• Charge Vacation Bank
• Charge Illness Bank
• Request Shared Sick/Illness Time (up to 112 hours/max)
• Approved Absence without Pay

For employees unable to work due to the need to care for their dependent(s) under the age of 18 due to school closure, unavailability of childcare provider due to COVID-19, the employee should follow the below sequence of using their respective bank(s)

• Charge Vacation Bank
• Reference Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) or Non-Represented Manual (2.3) for leave of absence options (i.e. leave of absence without pay)

For employees unable to work due to their child(ren) attending in-person school and has been notified by the school or childcare provider that their child must undergo a mandatory quarantine due to potential COVID-19 exposure, the employee should follow the below sequence of using their respective bank(s):

• Charge PMLA (for eligible employee classes)
• Charge Vacation Bank
• Charge Illness Bank
• Request Shared Sick/Illness Time (up to 112 hours/max)
• Approved Absence without Pay

Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) - Available for the period of: 4/1/2020 12/31/2020

Emergency Paid Sick Leave

Under the FFCRA, an employee qualifies for emergency paid sick leave if the employee is unable to work (or telework) due to one the following qualifying reasons:

1. The employee is subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19 has limited the employee's ability to travel;
2. The employee has been advised by a health-care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19;
3. The employee is experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19 and is in the process of determining whether he or she has contracted the virus;
4. The employee is caring for an individual who is subject to a governmental quarantine or isolation order for COVID-19 or whose health-care provider advised that person to self-quarantine because of COVID-19;
5. The employee needs to care for his or her child because of the closure of the child's school or child-care facility, or the unavailability of a child-care provider, because of COVID-19 considerations;
6. The employee is experiencing a situation that was specified by the Department of Health and Human Services as substantially similar to any of the five aforementioned situations.

There is no waiting period for an employee to utilize the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act.  Full-time employees will be allowed up to two weeks (75 hours / 80 hours) of paid sick leave. Part-time employees' paid sick time will be based upon the average number of hours they ordinarily scheduled to work in a 2-week period.  The Emergency Paid Sick Leave pays as regular pay and does not draw from any leave banks.  Hours not used in 2020 cannot be carried over into 2021.

• Employees unable to work due to reasons 1-4 & 6 (listed above), are currently eligible to be paid their regular hourly rate.
• Employees unable to work for qualifying reason #5, are currently eligible to be paid their regular hourly rate.  They may receive up to 12 weeks of combined paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave paid.  However, employees may elect to reserve the 2 weeks of Emergency Paid Sick Leave to use at a later date.

Expanded Family and Medical Leave Act

Although the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) traditionally has provided unpaid leave for qualifying circumstances, the FFCRA amended the FMLA to add a paid-leave requirement related to COVID-19. This new type of leave is for employees who need to care for their children during the pandemic and is referred to in the FFCRA as public health emergency leave. The period of public health emergency leave is for up to the remainder of the 12 weeks of FMLA entitlement. This benefit is available from April 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020.

Typically, employees that are eligible for FMLA are those that have worked for their employer for at least 12 months and performed at least 1,250 hours of work in the past 12 months. However, the public health emergency leave is available to employees who have worked for their employer for at least 30 days, regardless of how many hours of work they performed. 

To be eligible for the Expanded Family and Medical Leave, employees generally would need to show that they are unable to work in-person or telework due to the need to care for their own son or daughter under 18 years old due to coronavirus-related loss of access to educational or childcare facilities.

There is a 10 day waiting period before an employee is eligible for the paid-leave component of the Expanded FMLA. However, employees may elect to utilize the Emergency Paid Sick Leave to cover the wait period.  If the Emergency Paid Sick Leave is utilized to cover the wait period, please note that these two weeks will count against the employee's FMLA entitlement.

While the FFCRA law dictated paid leave as two-thirds of the employee's regular pay with applicable daily maximum for the Expanded Family Medical Leave (EFMLA), Wayne State University made a decision to temporary increase the minimum and allowed employees to be paid their regular hourly rate at 100%.  As of October 19, 2020, the amount of the EFMLA paid leave component will be two-thirds of the employee's regular rate of hourly pay and will not draw from any leave banks. However, an employee may elect to supplement with one-third vacation hours to receive their regular pay.  To perform the calculations, you may do the following:

• Multiply 2/3 by the number of hours the employee normally would have been scheduled to work within the pay period.  This will provide you with the number of eligible hours the employee would receive under the Expanded Family and Medical Leave
• Subtract the number of Expanded Family and Medical leave hours from the number of hours the employee normally would have been scheduled to work within the pay period.  This amount represents the amount of hours not covered under the Expanded Family and Medical Leave.
• Employees will have the following options regarding the hours that are not covered under the Expanded Family and Medical Leave:
  • • Not receive pay:  hours should be coded as "FA" - FMLA absence without Pay
    • Supplement with 1/3 vacation hours:  hours should be coded as "FV"- FMLA Vacation

Based upon the 2/3 FFCRA benefit, the maximum number of Expanded Family and Medical Leave hours that an employee (working 75 hour per pay period) can record within a pay period is 50 hours.  These hours will need to be adjusted based upon the number of hours that an employee is regularly scheduled to work within a pay period.

Expanded Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act

(Unable to work in-person or telework due to the need to care for his or her child because of the closure of the child's school or child-care facility, or the unavailability of a child-care provider, because of COVID-19 considerations)

Scenario #1:

Full-time employee, working 80 hours per pay period

 AS E-Class, approved for 8 weeks of continuous Expanded Family and Medical Leave.  Based upon an 80 hour pay period, as of October 19, 2020 you would be eligible for 54 hours of pay under the Expanded FMLA.  The remaining 26 hours (which is not covered under Expanded FMLA) would either be unpaid, vacation hours or a combination of both

•  "FFC" FMLA FFCRA : 54 hours
• "FA" and/or "FV" : 26 hours

Scenario #2:

Full-time employee, working 75 hours per pay period

PE E-Class, approved for 6 weeks of continuous Expanded Family and Medical Leave.  Based upon a 75 hour pay period, as of October 19, 2020 you would be eligible for 50 hours of pay under the Expanded FMLA.  The remaining 25 hours (which is not covered under Expanded FMLA) would either be unpaid, vacation hours or a combination of both.

•  "FFC" FMLA FFCRA : 50 hours
• "FA" and/or "FV" : 25 hours

Scenario #3

Full-time employee, working 75 hours per pay period

SA E-Class, approved for 4 weeks of intermittent Expanded Family and Medical Leave at 20 hours per week.  Based upon a 75 hour pay period, as of October 19, 2020 you would receive 35 hours regular pay for hours worked and eligible for 26.67 hours of pay under the Expanded FMLA. The remaining 13.33 hours (which is not covered under Expanded FMLA) would either be unpaid, vacation hours or a combination of both.

• Regular Hours: 35 hours

• "FFC" FMLA FFCRA : 27 hours
  • 40 hours multiplied by 2/3 = 26.67 (rounded up to full hour) = 27
• "FA" and/or "FV" : 13 hours
  • 40 hours 27 FFCRA = 13 hours of "FA" and/or "FV"

Scenario #4

Part-time employee (.65 FTE), working 48.80 hours per pay period

NE - .65 FTE, approved for 5 weeks of intermittent Expanded Family and Medical Leave at 10 hours per week.  Based upon a 48.80 hours per pay period, as of October 19, 2020 you will receive 28.80 hours regular and eligible for 13.31 hours of pay under the Expanded FMLA.  The remaining 6.67 hours (which is not covered under Expanded FMLA) would either be unpaid, vacation hours or a combination of both.

• Regular Hours: 28.80 hours

• "FFC" FMLA FFCRA : 14 hours
  • 20 hours multiplied by 2/3 = 13.31 (rounded up to full hour)= 14
• "FA" and/or "FV" : 6 hours
  • 20 hours 14 FFCRA = 6 hours of "FA" and/or "FV"

Scenario #5

Graduate Student: working 37.5 hours per pay period

GTA/GSA, approved for 7 weeks of continuous Expanded Family and Medical Leave.  Based upon a 37.5 hour pay period, as of October 19, 2020, you would be eligible for 25 hours of pay under the Expanded FMLA.  The remaining 12.5 hours (which is not covered under Expanded FMLA) would be unpaid.

• "FFC" FMLA FFCRA : 25 hours
• "FA" :        12.5 hours

How to request a Paid Sick Leave and/or Expanded Family and Medical Leave due to the above 6 qualifying reasons related to COVID-19

FMLASource will administer both the emergency paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave on behalf of WSU.  Please reach out to FMLASource directly to request an Emergency Paid Sick Leave and/or Expanded Family and Medical Leave.

FMLASource Contact Information:

Website: www.fmlasource.com
Email: FMLACenter@fmlasource.com
Phone: 877-462-3652 (Live service 7:30am - 9:30pm CST; 24-hour automated phone system)
Smartphone App: FMLASourceNow

U.S. Department of Labor Resources:

Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Employee Paid Leave Rights
Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers