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Business and Professional Services during COVID-19
Concerned about creating a safe and clean restaurant, retail store or other place of business?
- The CDC has set guidelines for cleaning your place of business and how frequently it must be done, plus what cleaning should be done if someone is known to have COVID-19.
- The EPA has issued a list of disinfectants that combat COVID-19.
If you're interested in learning about sanitizing your restaurant, office, school, daycare center, home or any other environment, we recommend the following companies, highly reputable members of the Chamber of Commerce. Click on the names to be directed to their website.
Green Source Janitorial
Daniel Petrosian - (650) 488-8100
Islas Maintenance
Ismael Islas - (650) 924-0113
A HELPFUL REFERENCE
Centers for Disease Control, "What Every American Can Do Now to Decrease the Spread of Coronavirus"- Helpful tips for keeping people safe in the workplace, school, home or commercial establishment. (Download the PDF)
* Thanks to Green Source and Islas for their help in compiling this information *
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New Law for Employers
FAMILIES FIRST CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE ACT (FFCRA)
The full text of the FFCRA can be found here.
The FFCRA is a new federal law that requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide two new paid leave benefits for eligible employees affected by the COVID-19 virus in 2020. This applies only to those employees (not already laid off) who are home sick. The leave requirements generally provide paid sick time or paid leave under certain circumstances (as described more fully in the notice poster, link #4, below). The FFCRA also provides tax credits that may help employers provide the paid leave benefits.
The FFCRA helps the U.S. combat workplace effects of COVID-19 by reimbursing American private employers that have fewer than 500 employees with tax credits for the cost of providing employees with paid leave, taken for specified reasons related to COVID-19. The law enables employers to keep workers (who are home sick with COVID-19 related illness and therefore unable to work, even remotely) on their payrolls, 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. The Departmnt's Wage and Hour Division administers the paid leave portions of the FFCRA.
If an employer has fewer than 50 employees and providing the paid leave benefits would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern, the small business exemption may apply. Employers who believe they qualify for the exemption should document why the business meets the exemption criteria unless and until the Department of Labor issues additional guidance on claiming the exemption.
Effective April 1, 2020, employers are required to properly notify their employees of the new FFCRA leave benefits and implement the requirements.
Below are links to important resources that contain compliant employee notices, guidance, and recommendations for employers subject to the FFCRA.
- Department of Labor: COVID-19 and the American Workplace
- Fact Sheet: FFCRA – Employee Paid Leave Rights (in English)
- Fact Sheet: FFCRA – Employer Paid Leave Requirements (in English)
- Compliant FFCRA notice poster for private-sector employees (in English)
- Department of Labor FAQ for the FFCRA employee notice poster
courtesy of Montgomery & Hansen, LLP