A couple of timely issues to report. First, the effective date of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act “the Act” has been changed from April 2, 2020 to April 1, 2020. If you are considering making staffing changes prior to the Act taking effect, those should be made by March 31, 2020.
Second, our national association has hired the past director of the SBA to give guidance on the loan provisions that were included in the legislation addressing the covering of payroll costs during this time of disaster relief. RMI will provide more information on what that means and how to apply as it becomes available. Please see below for more information on both of these topics.
- The U.S. Department of Labor released a preliminary Q&A page today, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-questions, attempting to answer some preliminary compliance questions related to the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which will require emergency family and medical leave, as well as paid sick leave, of many employers across the country. The agency stated it also will be issuing implementing regulations regarding the new law in the near future. The big news is that the law will take effect April 1, 2020, not April 2, 2020 as originally expected. RMI has sent out multiple emails on the Act, if you have any questions, please reach out to us.
- H.R. 748, the “CARES Act” is expected to be signed this week. It provides approximately $350 billion in loans under the SBA, which may be critical to many employers in moving ahead financially through this crisis. Please see the attached for information (NAPEO Cares Act Alert) on what we have now and know that more will become available during the next few days. More information on the latest and contact links for the SBA as it relates to COVID-19 relief can be found here: https://www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19.
- For a general and quick summary of what has been sent prior, an attachment has been included to this email with corresponding links (COVID-19 General Update). Note that the links include important FAQ’s and also a link to a sample posting.