EFMLEA and EPSLA

March 18, 2020

Contained within the Act are two sections dealing with employee leave rights. Each has its own name, the Emergency Family Medical Leave Expansion Act (“EFMLEA”) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (“EPSLA”). Both of these laws would not become effective for 15 days after enactment providing employers some limited time to plan for compliance.

The first 14 days of EFMLEA leave is unpaid. Unless the employee elects to use their PTO.
However, employees may use earned any available paid time off but unlike the FMLA the employer cannot mandate the use of available paid time off if the employee elects not to use it.
After 14 days, employers must provide the employee paid leave for two (2) weeks
Sick leave = normal pay
Family leave = not less 2/3 of the regular rate for
After 28 days no paid leave is required.

Payroll Credit for Required Paid Sick Leave:

This section provides a refundable tax credit equal to 100 percent of (Employer’s Social Security Taxes Paid) qualified paid sick leave wages paid by an employer for each calendar quarter. The tax credit is allowed against the tax imposed by section 3111(a) (the employer portion of Social Security taxes). Qualified sick leave wages are wages required to be paid by the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act. The section makes a distinction between qualified sick leave wages paid with respect to employees who must self-isolate, obtain a diagnosis, or comply with a self-isolation recommendation with respect to coronavirus.

For amounts paid to those employees, the amount of qualified sick leave wages taken into account for each employee is capped at $511 per day.
For amounts paid to employees caring for a family member or for a child whose school or place of care has been closed, the amount of qualified sick leave wages taken into account for each employee is capped at $200 per day.
The payroll credit is NOT a credit for the wages paid, only on the SS tax paid by the employer on the wages paid during the covered time period.

The aggregate number of days taken into account per employee may not exceed the excess of 10 over the aggregate number of days taken into account for all preceding calendar quarters.

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