Understanding how COVID-19 spreads and what employers should do to slow the spread of Covid as part of reopening plans.

•  COVID-19 is thought to spread mainly through close contact from person-to-person. Some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus. We are still learning about how the virus spreads and the severity of illness it causes. 
•  The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.  How easily a virus spreads from person-to-person can vary. Some viruses are highly contagious, like measles, while other viruses do not spread as easily. Another factor is whether the spread is sustained, which means it goes from person-to-person without stopping. 

The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus. You can take steps to slow the spread...

• Maintain good social distance (about 6 feet). This is very important in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
• Routinely clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a mask when around others.

Prepare your small business and employees from the effects of COVID-19

•  During an infectious disease outbreak, such as the current outbreak of COVID-19, small business owners must prepare for disruption in their business as well as prepare to protect their employees’ health and safety in the workplace. 
•  Identify a workplace coordinator who will be responsible for COVID-19 issues and their impact at the workplace.
• Examine policies for leave, telework, and employee compensation.

Guidelines and Application: Loan Forgiveness for PPP

•  To apply for forgiveness of your Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan,  the Borrower must complete this application as directed in these instructions, and submit it to the Lender (or the Lender that is servicing the borrower's loan). Borrowers may also complete this application electronically through their Lender. 
• This application has the following components: (1) the PPP Loan Forgiveness Calculation Form; (2) PPP Schedule A; (3) the PPP Schedule A Worksheet; and (4) the (optional) PPP Borrower Demographic Information Form. All Borrowers must submit (1) and (2) to their Lender. 

Certain USCIS offices resume non-emergency face-to-face services

Beginning June 4, 2020, certain USCIS field offices and asylum offices will resume non-emergency face-to-face services to the public. Application support centers will resume services later. USCIS has enacted precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in reopened facilities. Click to learn more.

More employers are violating the FFCRA requirements, DOL Acts

•  The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) determined that the Georgia Department of Human Services wrongly denied emergency paid sick leave to an employee who needed to miss work to care for a child whose school closed due to the coronavirus. 
•  As a result, the employer paid $848 in back wages as required under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). 
•  The division found that Georgia Department of Human Services initially approved the employee’s leave request, but later denied it and instead offered multiple telework options. After receiving clarification from WHD that an employee unable to telework may take EPSLA leave to care for a child whose school or place of care closed due to the coronavirus, the employer acknowledged the error and agreed to pay the back wages at the required two-thirds of the employee’s regular rate of pay. 
• To ensure future compliance, the employer changed their policy for their 9,000 employees and requested FFCRA training for their Human Resources staff from WHD. 

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ADOPTS REVISED ENFORCEMENT POLICIES FOR CORONAVIRUS

• The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has adopted revised policies for enforcing OSHA's requirements with respect to coronavirus as economies reopen in states throughout the country. 
•  Now, as states begin reopening their economies, OSHA has issued two revised enforcement policies to ensure employers are taking action to protect their employees. 
•  First, OSHA is increasing in-person inspections at all types of workplaces.   The new enforcement guidance reflects changing circumstances in which many non-critical businesses have begun to reopen in areas of lower community spread.  
• Second, OSHA is revising its previous enforcement policy for recording cases of coronavirus. Under OSHA's recordkeeping requirements, coronavirus is a recordable illness, and employers are responsible for recording cases of the coronavirus, if the case:
• Is confirmed as a coronavirus illness;
• Is work-related as defined by 29 CFR 1904.5; and
• Involves one or more of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7, such as medical treatment beyond first aid or days away from work.
• OSHA's guidance emphasizes that employers must make reasonable efforts, based on the evidence available to the employer, to ascertain whether a particular case of coronavirus is work-related. 

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ISSUES FINAL RULE TO SIMPLIFY RETAIL OR SERVICE ESTABLISHMENT EXEMPTION

•  The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule to provide greater simplicity and flexibility to retail industry employers. 
•  Provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allow employers in retail and service industries to exempt certain employees paid primarily on a commission basis from overtime. 
• Today’s rule withdraws two provisions from the Department’s Wage and Hour Division regulations. The first listed industries that the Department previously viewed as having “no retail concept,” which made them ineligible to claim the exemption. The second listed industries that, in the Department’s view, “may be recognized as retail,” and were potentially eligible for the exemption. As the rule explains, some courts have questioned whether these lists lack any rational basis. 
•  Moving forward, the Department will apply the same analysis to all establishments to determine whether they have a retail concept and qualify as retail or service establishments, promoting greater simplicity and flexibility for employers and workers alike. 

California Creates a Rebuttable Presumption that Certain Workers Who Report COVID-19 Illness Are Entitled to Workers’ Compensation Benefits

• California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-62-20 earlier this month.
• Employees typically must prove that they were injured on the job to qualify for workers’ compensation benefits, however, Executive Order N-62-20 creates a rebuttable presumption that an employee who tests positive for COVID-19 contracted the virus at work if certain conditions are met.
• The governor shared the purpose of this executive order is to protect California's employees who are essential workers, not subject to the shelter in place orders, recognition that if they report to work sick - it creates a health and safety issue for themselves and others they come into contact with.   
•  Additionally, swift provision of workers’ compensation benefits to those affected by COVID-19 will provide prompt and effective medical treatment and access to disability benefits that will ultimately mitigate the risk of COVID-19 to all Californians. 
•  This rebuttable presumption is retroactive to March 19, 2020, when Governor Newsom issued his first shelter-in place order, and extends for 60 days, until July 5, 2020. However, the order may well be extended past its initial 60-day shelf life depending on what happens in the coming days and weeks.  

COMPANIES ORDERED TO PAY BACK WAGES TO EMPLOYEES DENIED PAID SICK LEAVE WHILE EXPERIENCE COVID-19 SYMPTOMS AND SEEKING DIAGNOSIS 

• Recently, two companies -- West Texas Paving Company and Indiana Trucking Company -- were ordered by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to pay back wages to their employees whom were denied Paid Sick Leave while experiencing Covid-19 Symptoms, seeking diagnosis and in quarantine.  
• The   West Texas Paving – a road construction company based in Wolfforth, Texas – will pay an employee $1,200 in back wages after failing to provide them paid sick leave under the newly passed Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act, part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), after healthcare providers ordered the employee with potential coronavirus symptoms to self-quarantine. 
•  A truck driver has received $3,017 in back wages after being denied emergency paid sick leave while he was experiencing coronavirus symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer – Mahant Trucking based in Avon, Indiana – violated the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). 
• The Department of Labor is advising employers to contact the Wage and Hour Division to better understand their responsibilities under this new law so they can avoid similar violations. 

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ISSUES GUIDANCE ANNOUNCING THE AVAILABILITY OF $100 MILLION IN SHORT-TIME COMPENSATION GRANT FUNDS FOR STATES

•  The U.S. Department of Labor has issued guidance announcing the availability of grant funds provided under Section 2110 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.   
•  Section 2110 provides up to $100 million for grants to states with short-time compensation (STC) programs in their laws that conform to the requirements of section 3306(v) Federal Unemployment Tax Act. 
•  An STC program is a layoff aversion program in which an employer, under a state-approved plan, reduces the hours for a group of workers and, in turn, these workers receive a reduced unemployment benefit payment. This program preserves employees’ jobs and employers’ trained workforces during a disruption to the firm’s regular business activity by reducing hours of work for an entire group of affected employees.  
•  In the context of re-opening businesses closed temporarily by a pandemic, STC can also serve as a means of bringing most or all of a temporarily laid-off workforce back to the job. States may make this benefit available to individuals returning to work with reduced hours who worked for the employer prior to the temporary layoff due to the coronavirus pandemic.  
•  The deadline to apply for these grants is Dec. 31, 2023.