Claire Osborn
| Austin American-Statesman
A carpenter’s company in Taylor repaid an employee after wrongly refusing vacation granted under federal law on responding to families with first coronavirus, according to the federal government.
Burrows Cabinets paid the worker $ 3,736 in arrears wages, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Labor on Monday.
James Burrows, the company’s owner, disagreed with the Department of Labor and said Tuesday that his company had not turned down wages. “That statement is wrong,” he said. “We never argued with the employee that we didn’t owe him anything. The employee left and never contacted us or gave us his status.”
The employee took 80 hours of paid family vacation and never called the company again to say he needed more vacation time granted under the Families First Coronavirus Act, Burrows said.
“I don’t know why this clerk went to the Department of Labor,” said Burrows. “When we were notified by the Department of Labor, we were more than happy to deal with it without question.”
The Ministry of Labor’s press release said the company gave the employee 80 hours of vacation under the Emergency Paid Leave Act, which the employee requested to look after their child after school due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The employer then denied the employee the extra vacation under the EFMLEA (Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act) provisions of the FFCRA (Families First Coronavirus Response Act), which provides up to 10 weeks of paid vacation at two-thirds of an employee’s regular pay “, it said in the press release.
Burrows Cabinets has updated its vacation policy and agreed to abide by the law in the future, according to the press release.
“The US Department of Labor continues to inform employees and employers of their rights and obligations under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act during the pandemic,” said Nicole Sellers, district director for wages and hours, in the press release.
“We encourage employers and employees to use our online tools for educational purposes in order to avoid violations like this one. Trained payroll and hourly specialists are also available over the phone to help employers or employees with any questions. “
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act helps combat the effects of coronavirus in the workplace by providing American companies with fewer than 500 employees with tax credits to provide paid vacation to employees for the employee’s own health needs or to provide for family members.
The law “allows employers to grant paid vacation that is reimbursed through tax credits, while ensuring workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to fight the virus.”
To learn more about how much vacation workers qualify for draw or wage, employers must pay at bit.ly/3gpquIg or by calling 866-487-9243.
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