The Families First Corona Virus Relief Act (FFCRA) was enacted on March 18, 2020 and contains two emergency paid leave programs to support employees during the coronavirus pandemic. Division E of the FFCRA, “The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act” (EPSLA), entitles employees to take up to two weeks of paid sick leave if they are impacted by one of the six qualifying events related to COVID-19.
Employees must have a qualifying reason and provide requested documentation as defined in the law and expanded upon by the Dept. of Labor and IRS in order to receive paid leave.
MORE INFORMATION on the FFCRA paid sick leave policy
Please complete the following form to apply for emergency paid sick leave:
Explanatory statement regarding Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation orders due to COVID-19.
If you have been exposed to a person who tested positive for COVID-19, the CDC recommends a quarantine. Exposure is defined as close contact during a time the individual may have been contagious. Close contact means within 6 ft of the individual for more than 15 minutes, or direct contact (hug, kiss), or sharing of eating or drinking utensils, or if the person coughed or sneezed respiratory droplets onto you. Employees who have been exposed with close contact will be required to quarantine for 10 days with a test on day 7. Employees may return to work on day 10 if they have a negative test and have not developed any symptoms during their quarantine.
Veterinary hospitals are essential businesses and most employees are exempt from state or local stay at home orders. However, Jackson County, MO has indicated employees who are high risk due to underlying conditions should stay at home except to seek medical care. To request leave due to Jackson County's stay at home order a doctor's note is required stating increased risk from COVID-19 due to underlying conditions.
Explanatory statement regarding advisement by a health care professional to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.
Health care provider is defined as a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant. The health care provider's advice to self-quarantine must be based upon the doctor's belief that the employee has COVID-19, may have COVID-19, or is particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.
Written documentation of the self-quarantine recommendation should be requested.
If the health care provider's office is unable to see the employee or provide a written note, then a verbal recommendation to self quarantine should be documented. Record the date of the conversation and who relayed the information from the health care provider (name and position such as nurse, medical assistant, or receptionist).
Explanatory statement regarding employees who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis.
Symptoms most commonly associated with COVID-19 include fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath.
Leave under this provision is limited to time spent actively pursuing a diagnosis, such as visiting the doctor and waiting on a test result. If self-quarantined while waiting for a doctor's appointment or test result, please request documentation from the appointment or test result and submit when available.
Employees will not qualify for paid sick leave if they take paid sick leave to self-isolate without seeking a medical diagnosis.
Explanatory statement regarding employees who are caring for an individual who is subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19, or has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.
NOTE: Paid sick leave under this provision is paid at 2/3 rate of normal pay.
To qualify for paid sick leave under this provision the employee must have a genuine need to care for the individual. The individual being cared for must be an immediate family member, roommate, or a similar person with whom the employee has a relationship that creates an expectation that the employee would care for the person.
The individual being cared for must: (a) be subject to a Federal, State, or local quarantine or isolation order; or (b) have been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine based on a belief that he or she has COVID-19, may have COVID-19, or is particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.
Explanatory statement regarding caring for a child or children because their school is closed or child care provider is unavailable due to COVID–19 precautions
"Child" means a biological, adopted or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis, who is under 18 years of age or 18 or older and incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability
"Child care provider" means a provider who receives compensation for providing child care services on a regular basis, including: • A center-based child care provider. • A group home child care provider. • A family child care provider (one individual who provides child care services for fewer than 24 hours per day, as the sole caregiver, and in a private residence). • Other licensed provider of childcare services for compensation. • A childcare provider that is 18 years of age or older who provides child care services to children who are either the grandchild, great grandchild, sibling (if such provider lives in a separate residence), niece or nephew of such provider, at the direction of the parent.
"School" means an elementary or secondary school.
To qualify for paid sick leave under this provision the employee must have a genuine need to care for a child or children in the absence of another suitable individual such as a spouse or co-parent who could provide care.
The employee must provide an explanation of special circumstances if requesting leave for a child older than 14 yrs during daylight hours.
Documentation should be provided to show that the child's school is closed or daycare is unavailable due to COVID-19 precautions. Documentation could be a notice posted on a government, school, or day care website or an email from an employee or official of the school, place of care, or child care provider.
Explanatory statement regarding the employee haing a substantially similar condition.
A "substantially similar condition" as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor, has not yet been defined. It may defined at any point during the Effective Period, April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020.
