Wrestling with paid sick leave for both parents when schools close for pandemic

With schools closed for the COVID-19 pandemic, both parents in two-parent households may want to stay home while shelter-in-place orders are in effect. Will they be eligible for monetary relief and protection under new sweeping federal legislation? The answer is especially critical if both work for the same employer.

What the FFCRA covers

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) is a federal law that went into effect on April 1, 2020. It provides monetary relief and protection to American workers through the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA). Among many other things, the FFCRA will provide reimbursement, by way of tax credits, to private employers with fewer than 500 employees for sick leave they pay out to their workers.

In part, the FFCRA provides two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick if an employee is unable to work because of a bona fide need to care for an individual subject to quarantine (under a federal, state, or local government order or based on a healthcare provider’s advice) or a minor child whose school or childcare provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19. The leave is supposed to be paid at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Suppose family has only one child

To qualify for the emergency relief, an employee must show no other suitable person is available to care for the child. So, under the FFCRA, if a family only has one child, only one of the two parents would be entitled to the paid sick leave.