Families First Coronavirus Response Act

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act that the president just signed into law includes two provisions to help ensure that employees who are sick or need to care for a loved one can get the time off that they need during this public health crisis. Understanding that providing additional leave to employees will be difficult for many businesses, especially small businesses, this bill provides necessary relief to help businesses, non-profits, and self-employed individuals cover the costs of paid leave to their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill provides employers with fully refundable tax credits to help cover the costs of paying 2 weeks of sick leave wages, and up to 10 additional weeks of family leave wages, and health insurance premiums for employees during this leave. These tax credits are fully refundable so businesses will be able to receive the full value of the credits regardless of their tax situation.

Under the Family First Act, businesses will receive tax credits worth up to $511 per employee per day for paying an employee regular wages for up to two weeks of personal paid sick leave, $200 per employee per day for paying an employee regular wages for up to two weeks of leave to care for a sick family member or child home from school, and $200 per employee per day for paying an employee 2/3 wages for up to ten weeks of leave to personally quarantine or to care for a child home from school. See this CHART for more details.