Written by: Susan L. Swatski, Esq.

As businesses are starting to re-open their doors, workers and employers need to prepare their workplaces for the new normal to try to keep everyone as healthy as possible in the new COVID-19 reality. These are challenging times to be sure and we’re here to help you navigate them by providing guidance on key legal issues to consider as you re-open your business.

1. Employer Screening of Employees for COVID-19

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently provided guidance that expressly permits employee screening and stating that such screening does not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provided any mandatory medical test is job-related and consistent with business necessity. In the case of COVID-19, the virus poses a direct threat to the health of others thereby satisfying the business necessity standard. 

Written by: Susan L. Swatski, Esq.

The following is a brief summary of the CARES Act.

Health Care

• Clarifies that all testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) is to be covered by private insurance plans without cost sharing. The Act covers all services provided during a medical visit, including an in-person or telehealth visit to a doctor’s office or an emergency room, that results in coronavirus screening. This coverage is in effect only while there is a declared public health emergency.
• Changes the use of health savings accounts (HSAs) paired with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) by allowing a HDHP with a HSA to cover telehealth services prior to a patient reaching the deductible.
• Includes certain over-the-counter medical products, without a prescription, as “qualified expenses” under HSAs, Flexible Spending Accounts, Archer medical savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements. This benefit applies to all amounts paid or expenses incurred after December 31, 2019.
• Allows an employee who was laid off on or after April 1, 2020 to have access to paid family and medical leave in certain instances if they are rehired by the employer.
• Allows employers to receive an advance tax credit from the Department of Treasury instead of having to be reimbursed on the back end. Creates regulatory authority to implement tax credit advancements.
• Amends Section 518 of ERISA to provide the Department of Labor the ability to postpone certain ERISA filing deadlines for a period of up to one year in the case of a public health emergency.

Written by: Susan L. Swatski

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance in the form of a fact sheet for employees, a fact sheet for employers, and a Q&A document addressing critical questions on the paid leave requirements under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The FFCRA expanded the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to allow partially compensated employee leave for child care purposes related to COVID-19. The FFCRA also provided for employee paid sick leave for specific COVID-19-related reasons. The law included other measures to address the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on workers. The guidance addresses issues such as:

Written by: Susan L. Swatski

On May 2, 2018, New Jersey became the tenth state to enact a mandatory paid sick leave law. The law goes into effect on October 29, 2018 and will require all New Jersey employers, regardless of size, to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year. The Act preempts and moots all municipal ordinances regarding paid sick time. Current employees will begin accruing sick time on October 29, 2018, so employers will need to have their revised leave policies in place in short order. Employees hired after October 29, 2018, will begin accruing sick time on their first day of employment. An employee can use accrued sick time after the 120th day of his/her first day of employment for the following reasons:

• diagnosis, care or treatment of or recovery from an employee’s own mental or physical illness, including preventive medical care;
• aid or care for a covered family member during diagnosis, care or treatment of or recovery from the family member’s mental or physical illness, including preventive medical care;
• circumstances related to an employee’s or his/her family member’s status as a victim of domestic or sexual violence;
• closure of an employee’s workplace or of a child’s school because of a public official’s order; or,
• time to attend a meeting required by school staff to discuss a child’s health.

Employers may not require an employee to find a replacement to cover the employee’s absence. The payment amount is based on the same rate of pay that the employee earns at the time of the payment, not when the time was accrued.

Under the Act, employers must designate any period of 12 consecutive months as a “benefit year.”  In each benefit year, an employee may accrue up to 40 hours of sick time at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employer may “frontload” the 40 hours of sick time at the beginning of the benefit year, but employers are not required to permit employees to use more than 40 hours of sick leave in a benefit year. Employees are permitted to carry over a maximum of 40 hours of accrued sick time. Employers may, at their discretion, buy out an employee’s unused accrued sick time in the month before the end of the benefit year. An employee has the option to either have the entire amount of unused sick time paid out or 50 percent of the time. The Act does not require the employer to pay employees for unused accrued sick leave upon separation from employment. Employers with existing paid time off, personal days, vacation days and sick-day policies may use those policies to comply with the Act provided employees can use the time off as required by the Act.

Employers must post a notification of employees’ rights under the Act and provide employees with a written copy of the notice within 30 days after the Department of Labor has issued a model notice and each time thereafter when an employee is hired. Employers also must retain records documenting paid sick time taken by employees for a period of five years.

The Act provides for a private right of action that includes, among other remedies, liquidated damages in an amount equal to the actual damages sustained by the employee. The Act also contains anti-retaliation provisions that include a rebuttable presumption that an employer’s actions are unlawful if the employer takes adverse action against an employee within 90 days of the employee engaging in activity protected under the Act. Protected activities include filing a complaint with the Department of Labor, cooperating with an investigation, opposing policies and practices that are unlawful under the Act or informing other individuals of their rights under the Act.

Your business likely will be impacted by the Paid Sick Leave Act. You should start preparing now to ensure your sick leave, paid time off and vacation policies are compliant with the Act. You should also include training on the retaliation provisions of the Act for managers and supervisors.