D.C. extends COVID-19 go away legal guidelines by way of November 5

As businesses and schools continue to reopen in the District of Columbia, employers should consider their ongoing obligations under the district’s COVID-19 vacation laws, which the Mayor recently extended to November 5, 2021.

The District of Columbia previously enacted emergency laws requiring employers to protect their employees both paid and unpaid leave for specific reasons related to COVID-19 for the duration of the district-declared health emergency. Mayor Bowser phased out the public health emergency on July 25, 2021; However, on July 24, 2021, she signed an emergency law extending the COVID-19 vacation laws to November 5, 2021. Accordingly, the following requirements will remain in effect until November 5th:

• All DC employers must employees who have been employed for at least 30 days, up to 16 weeks of unpaid, job-protected vacation if the worker is unable to work for any reason related to COVID-19, including a health care provider recommending quarantine or isolation for the worker or a household member to care for, school closings and the unavailability of the Childcare provider of employee; and
• DC employers with 50 to 499 employees must also deliver up to 80 hours of paid sick leave To employees who have been employed for at least 15 days for any of the reasons that federal paid vacation was available under the now-expired Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Please see our previous post for more details. This vacation is usually in addition to other vacations that workers are entitled to under the DC Family and Medical Leave Act and the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act. However, the Emergency Act does not create new vacation entitlements for employees who have already taken eligible vacation earlier in the pandemic.

The DC Office of Human Rights recently released a revised mandatory poster on Unpaid COVID-19 Vacation in DC, which must be prominently posted in the workplace along with updated enforcement guidelines. A guide from the DC Office of the Attorney General on DC paid COVID-19 vacation can be found here.