The Governmental Affairs Committee of the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry is forwarding information from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce on what employers need to know about the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (HR6201) passed the United States House of Representatives and under consideration by the U.S. Senate.
On March 17, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reported that he has told Republican Senators who have issues to sections of HR6201 to “gag and vote for it anyway.” Senate approval is expected before the end of this week.
HR6201 contains major changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 as it seeks to provide job protected paid sick leave to any employee who has been on the job for at least 30 days – for up to 12 weeks – and also mandates up to 80 hours of paid sick leave for reasons related to COVID-19. Tax credits are provided to employers to help offset the financial cost of the paid leave.
The legislation also provides $1 billion in additional funding to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) System and encourages states to relax UI eligibility requirements.
Click HERE to view press release from SmithAmundsen’s COVID-19 Task Force about the legislation’s contents.