Webinar| Families First Coronavirus Response Act

On Wednesday, March 25, AmericanHort hosted a webinar featuring advice and updates from its partner organizations CJ Lake and K-Coe Isom. The bulk of the webinar focused on what employers need to know about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and when an employee is unable to come into work.

Here are a few takeaways from the webinar, which is also available for complete on-demand viewing (along with a PowerPoint slide deck) here.

• The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law by President Trump on March 18, but per the Department of Labor, it does not go into effect until April 1, according to Chris Schulte, an associate at CJ Lake who gave the bulk of the presentation during the webinar. In other words, any provisions included in the new law do not apply to employees or employers prior to that date.
• The Act covers businesses that have fewer than 500 employees (at the time any leave is taken) anywhere in the U.S., including guestworkers. There are no exceptions for seasonal or part-time workers.
• If your business has less than 50 employees and you're concerned that complying with the law will jeopardize the economic viability of your business, there will be exceptions. However, the Department of Labor has yet to provide specific guidance on those exceptions, so stay tuned.
• There are five specific events that can trigger the law going into effect at your operation: 1) A quarantine/isolation order for an employee; 2) a doctor's order to self-quarantine; 3) an employee showing symptoms directly related to COVID-19; 4) an employee who must take leave to care for a quarantined individual (note that this is not always limited to a family member; and 5) an employee who must stay home for child-care if schools are closed.
• Workers who are quarantined or sick are eligible for two weeks of full pay, with a cap. If they are caring for someone, they are eligible for two weeks of pay at two-thirds their rate of pay, with up to 10 additional weeks for child care.
• To calculate an employee's pay, look at the scheduled hours they would have worked (this does not cover time-and-a-half pay)
• The law covers leave from April 1 through Dec. 1, although the first 10 days of an employee's absence can be covered by their current sick leave or PTO days.
• Normal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies in non-COVID-19 cases. In other words, the new law is specific to COVID-19.
• Even if a state enacts a lockdown, the law would not trigger the absence of an employee in the horticulture industry, since agriculture is considered an essential industry.
• What if an employee does not feel safe coming into work? According to Schulte, they would not qualify to be covered by the Act, although the employer may determine it's understandable.
  
  

Be sure to check out another AmericanHort webinar held earlier this week on the legislative and economic implications of COVID-19 on the horticulture industry.

Source and Photo Courtesy of Greenhouse Grower

Source: Greenhouse Grower