Like the legalization of marijuana and the increase in the minimum wage, guaranteed paid family and sick leave for workers is a progressive policy that voters have long advocated but failed to implement. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has borne the brunt of workers, re-added pressure on paid family vacations when even a Republican president passed the FFCRA, which included emergency paid leave last year. But that plan has expired and a new push for paid family and sick leave is on the way.
The paid family vacation plan is a big part of Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 bailout package, which, while barely set in stone, is likely to pass through the democratically controlled houses of Congress for the most part in its original form. Paid family vacation and medical leave are among the less controversial aspects of Biden’s plan, and it follows a similar (albeit less expansive) effort that was passed by Congress last year, also known as the FFCRA.
Yes, you may be wondering, wait, hasn’t Congress passed Family and Sick Leave Paid Leave by the Families First Act (FFCRA) in 2020? Yes, they did – but it has expired. Here are answers to all of your questions, including how Biden’s version of FMLA vacation or paid family and medical benefits would work – and why it is needed.
Didn’t Congress pass the FFCRA’s Paid Sick Leave Act last year?
Yes. The Family First Coronavirus Response Act, signed by former President Trump back in March, provided for two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at their regular wages for workers who were unable to work due to quarantine orders and / or COVID-19 Symptoms. Workers who had to care for another person in quarantine or a child whose school or daycare center was closed for COVID-19 reasons received two weeks’ wages at two-thirds of their regular wage.
The FFCRA granted workers up to ten weeks of paid family and sick leave at two-thirds of their wage rate if workers had to be home for COVID reasons. But unfortunately it was limited in two ways.
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First, only a few public and private employers with fewer than 500 employees have had to comply with these rules. Second, it expired in late 2020, which means there is currently no federal guarantee that private sector workers can take medical leave. The good news is that the spread of COVID-19 has been significantly curtailed, making the need to renew the plan all the more intense.
Who would fall under Biden’s paid family vacation plan?
Biden wants to get rid of the rules that exempt large employers (with 500 or more) and small employers (with 50 or less) from the FFCRA.
First responders expressly excluded from the FFCRA would also be re-enrolled in the group as part of his new plan. All in all, these changes would mean up to 106 million more workers would have paid emergency leave – which would be massive.
Two million federal employees who were on two weeks’ sick leave but not the months of paid family vacation in the FFCRA would now both get them.
What does Biden’s Paid Family and Sick Leave Plan guarantee?
The ten weeks of paid sick leave, family and sick leave to help with care in the FFCRA would be extended to 14, according to Biden’s plan, with the added condition that they can be taken to facilitate COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
Employers with fewer than 500 employees would receive tax credits that would reimburse them for paid vacation expenses, and state and local governments would also be reimbursed.
Is Biden’s Paid Family Vacation Permanent?
No. This extension of paid vacation is known as an “emergency measure,” which would end on September 30th, and the United States would regain its nefarious place outside of the 145 countries in the world that offer paid sick leave to its citizens – unless, of course, it has Plan moved the Overton Window and made real, all-round paid family vacations a regular perk for United States citizenship.
Given that paid family leave was a lynchpin of Biden’s presidential campaign, and one that was backed by then-presidential candidate and now VP Kamala Harris, there is reason to believe that the plan could ultimately be permanent – if the partisan deadlock doesn’t stands in the way.
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The post How Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Paid Family Vacation Plan Could Work first appeared on Fatherly.
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