How to Prepare Your Business for the End of FFCRA Leave

Unfortunately, things did not turn out how we thought they would— FFCRA is expiring, yet COVID is not. Actually, far from it; we have been riding a “third-wave” since September with no signs of slowing down. This means employees are still getting sick, family members still have to quarantine, and schools are still closed— the very same reasons the Act was created in the first place. Only now, employees and employers will no longer receive support from the government for COVID related time off. 

So, where do we go from here? Hopefully up— but in any case, here are 3 steps to prepare your business for the end of FFCRA leave.

Come up with a strategy

For the most part, you are not required to provide paid time off as an employer. Certain states and local governments have their own laws, like California’s mandatory 24 hours of sick leave, but many do not. That means it is on you to come up with a solution that makes sense for your business and is financially viable.

The positive: You are in control this time instead of lawmakers telling you how to run your business.

The negative: You have to foot the bill alone.  

Luckily, your strategy doesn’t have to revolve around paid time off. If you don’t have the resources for it, there are alternative ways to offer your team support via flexible work hours, remote work eligibility, or trading shifts.

The end goal is to determine which types of leave (if any) you will use to track and cover COVID-related absences and the alternative options available.

Note: All California employers are required by law to provide all employees (who have worked at least 30 days) 24 hours (or 3 days) of paid sick leave every 12 months.

Inform employees

After almost ten months of the same guidelines, your employees have most likely grown accustomed to them. But with COVID cases still going strong, you will need to inform your team of the changes ahead and what they can expect. 

Ideally, you would have your strategy ready to go and policies updated beforehand; that way, you can communicate everything at once and address questions head-on. It would also be a great time to emphasize the added importance of safety after the FFCRA expires since paid leave is no longer guaranteed. This is especially important if your employees are showing up to work in person. The last thing anyone needs is to be forced to take unpaid leave because a coworker wasn’t safe.

Update policies

When the law was first enacted, business owners were encouraged to update their current policies to align with FFCRA guidelines. And now, as the law expires, your policy should too. 

You can wrap this in with your typical end of the year tasks, like revising your employee handbook and verifying employee benefits information. And if you don’t currently have a handbook, now would be the perfect time to start. Be sure to clearly define the leave policies that will be available to your employees in 2021 or the strategy you are putting in place to handle COVID-related absences if you do not provide paid time off.