DOL Issues Additional Guidance On Families First Coronavirus Response Act

The DOL issued its first guidance on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act ("FFCRA") last week that provided helpful information about paid sick leave and the expanded FMLA leave. Since then, the DOL has added significantly more information to its guidance, which clarifies several very important issues regarding the implementation of the FFCRA. Below we have summarized some of the biggest changes from the employment perspective.

Does a shelter-in-place order (such as the one issued by Governor Whitmer) constitute a state isolation or quarantine order that triggers paid sick leave pursuant to the FFCRA?

The FFCRA does not directly define what constitutes a state isolation or quarantine order and there was uncertainty about whether shelter-in-place orders would qualify. However, the new DOL guidance states employers who close operations after the FFCRA's effective date do not need to provide employees paid sick leave pursuant to FFCRA, even if the business is