On March 18, 2020, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), providing some employees up to 10 paid sick days and up to 12 weeks of family leave (with 10 of the weeks paid), in addition to other critical measures. This was the first time Congress required federal paid leave for private sector workers—an important first step in ensuring workers earning low wages have access to these benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CLASP submitted these cooments to on September 14, 2020, to the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor providing evidence on how the lack of access to paid leave hurts families and proves the effectiveness of current state- and employer-provided paid Leave programs.
For the first time, Congress granted millions of workers nationwide a right to federal emergency paid sick and family leave. However, recent polling indicates that Americans are largely unaware of these rights – and a staggering amount aren’t using them. We've compiled the key points on what workers should know about their new federal leave rights.
The COVID-19 pandemic is having devastating implications for workers earning low wages and their families. Learn more about CLASP's work in responding to COVID-19.
This is a template fact sheet on the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (as amended by the CARES Act), and as interpreted by the U.S. Department of Labor. The fact sheet includes:
CLASP worked with our partners to send the U.S. Department of Labor this letter from over 100 organizations urging it to re-consider parts of its regulation that undermine the paid sick and paid leave provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). On March 18, 2020, Congress passed the FFCRA, providing some employees up to 10 paid sick days and up to 12 weeks of family leave (10 weeks paid), in addition to other critical measures.
This bi-weekly webinar call with CLASP and our partners discussed the overview of the paid leave and paid sick day provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the CARES Act; the overview of the Department of Labor regulation; unemployment insurance updates as well as updates of recent state and locality action on paid sick days and paid family and medical leave.
The COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak is testing our health and public health systems, our national response to an economic slowdown and potential recession, and our government’s overall capacity to respond to a crisis.
While the FMLA was a powerful and necessary law that's been used more than 200 million times, it’s time for a paid leave program that everybody can use.
