U.S. Department of Labor issued the following announcement on July 21.
After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Martinez Truss Co. – a manufacturer based in Medley, Florida – has paid an employee $4,352 in back wages for wrongly denying paid sick leave to an employee who requested time off to care for their child. The child’s school closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
When Martinez Truss Co. denied the employee’s request for 80 hours of emergency paid sick leave and up to 10 weeks of expanded family medical leave, the employer violated the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act’s (EFMLEA) provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). WHD also found Martinez Truss failed to post a notice of employees’ rights, as required by law.
“As America reopens, employers must comply with all of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s provisions and ensure they provide paid sick leave to their employees as required by law,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Tony Pham, in Miami, Florida. “The Wage and Hour Division stands ready to assist employers that may not fully understand their responsibilities to provide paid leave under this new law. We offer many online tools to help employers avoid violations like those found in this investigation.”
The FFCRA helps the U.S. combat and defeat the workplace effects of the coronavirus by giving tax credits to American businesses with fewer than 500 employees either to provide employees with paid leave for the employee’s own health needs or to care for family members. Please visit WHD’s “Quick Benefits Tips” for information about how much leave workers may qualify to use, and the wages employers must pay. The law enables employers to provide paid leave reimbursed by tax credits, while at the same time ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus.
Original source can be found here.