COVID-19 RESOURCES

FFCRA Rights poster, see the link

No, the traditional FMLA does not apply to employers with fewer than 50 employees.  The new, emergency FMLA applies to most employers with fewer than 50 employees, unless compliance would be so burdensome it would essentially result in having to close the business. 

Employees who were laid off prior to April 1st are not qualified for paid leave under FFCRA.  Employees who have continued to telework may be eligible for FFCRA leave if they experience one of the six qualifying events while they are still active employees. 

According to the FFCRA regulations issued on April 1 by the Department of Labor, the “quarantine or isolation orders” that would qualify an employee for Paid Sick Leave under reason #1, “include a broad range of governmental orders, including orders that advise some or all citizens to shelter in place, stay at home, quarantine, or otherwise restrict their own mobility.”  By this standard, Governor Bullock’s shelter-in-place order qualifies.    

Yes, continue to process your payroll on the normal schedule and be sure to document the 2 types of leave being paid out for which employees and be sure to have the documentation for each of those employees.

It’s possible that an employer that is required to pay for leave under FFCRA may also qualify for the Payroll Protection Program and/or the Employee Retention Credit under the CARES Act.  Although employers may be able to recapture wages by using more than one of these programs, an employer can only recapture payment of a particular employee’s wage payment through one of these three methods.   

I’m not sure, in other words under the FFCRA you would be eligible if you were paying yourself a paycheck and there is still work available for you.  Under unemployment, if you have not included your wages on your UI-5, then there would not be any basis for pay history.  All I can say, is try to file and see if MT or Federal Unemployment may be able to assist since you are an independent contractor.

Yes, I would continue with the Maternity Leave as is and once that leave is over and the employee is ready to return to work, assuming there is work to be done and it can be done in a telework situation (if that’s where we are in this crisis) then, if the employee is requesting more leave due to 1 of the 6 qualifying reasons, they may qualify for leave under FFCRA and may request additional leave at that time.  There may be other specifics that would be pertinent to a final decision in this situation and I would need to know more details.