ClickTime Bulletin: Get Your Timesheets Ready for the new FFCRA Legislation
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way companies do business around the world. In the past seven days here at ClickTime, we’ve received a huge volume of inquiries from a wide range of organizations asking how they can better manage work-from-home situations, measure employee productivity, and account for employee leave. More than anything, businesses want to know how to qualify for government reimbursement while paying employees on leave.
In the United States, as in other nations, the federal government has established programs for wage relief so that employers may allow their workers to collect wages while quarantined, ill, or caring for loved ones impacted by this crisis.
About the FFCRA Law (in the U.S.)
The bill, which has now passed Congress and been signed into law, is called the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” (H.R. 6201). This is very important to you if:
- Your employees are in the United States
- Your business has fewer than 500 employees
- You will be paying employees between April 1 and December 31 (the dates the Act is in effect)
(Important disclaimer — we’re neither attorneys nor CPAs. You should seek expert advice from a qualified professional before implementing any policies of your own)
We’ll address three main components of this new law:
- Temporary expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to cover illness and childcare coverage
- Temporary expansion of paid sick leave for COVID-19
- Tax credits for employers to cover some of the additional costs
Act Now, Analyze Later
Start by learning about the law at a high level. Some terrific explainers have been published — our own attorney published a great one— and we’re expecting additional guidance from the IRS and other federal agencies soon.
Ideally, everyone wants to see well-trained teams of employees correctly applying any lost time to the correct categories.
But of course that’s rarely the case. In the chaos of the moment, few of us will have the time to understand this legislation fully. That’s OK - there will be time to consult with experts in the coming weeks. One thing you should do right now is make sure your employee time recording system is configured to accommodate whatever aid you may be eligible for in the future.
Our team at ClickTime has been working with our legal and accounting advisors to develop a recommendation for tracking COVID-19-related leave in the absence of very specific guidance from government agencies.
A Simpler Approach
Because even skilled professionals are working overtime to fully understand this law, it’s likely your employees won’t have time to be trained in its proper application. For example, if you’re home taking care of a child whose school just closed, is that covered under the new “sick time” or FMLA? And who can make that judgement trapped in the house with a seven year old running around?
If you can’t depend on your workforce to properly interpret the rules, we recommend a narrative-first reporting system. In other words, employees should report what happened to them; administrators will decide how to account for it after the time is recorded.
Changes to Timekeeping
Based on the provisions in the FFCRA, we suggest creating six new leave types for employees who must take time off due to the Covid-19 outbreak. (To repeat, these recommendations are for U.S. based customers; you may be able to adapt them to other locales). Importantly, documentation (from a hospital, school district, etc.) may be required for each leave category.
COVID-19 Simplified End-User Time Off Descriptions (FFCRA)
| Leave Type | Explanation |
|---|---|
| COVID-19 Quarantine (Govt) | I am under government-mandated quarantine/isolation orders and cannot work |
| COVID-19 Quarantine (Medical) | I am under doctor-recommended quarantine |
| COVID-19 Seeking Diagnosis | I am experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and am seeking a medical diagnosis |
| COVID-19 Caring for Qrntd Person | I am caring for an individual under a government-ordered or doctor-recommended quarantine/isolation |
| COVID-19 No Childcare | My child’s school/place of care/childcare is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 precautions |
| COVID-19 Similar Condition | I am experiencing another substantially similar medical condition |
Reimbursement: The law allows for tax credits to recover some costs incurred, up to certain capped amounts (as much as $511 per day per employee). The exact mechanism for proving a claim has not yet been established, but regulations will be developed by the appropriate agencies in the coming weeks.
Bottom line: No matter what happens, the best practice is to make sure that all employee time is captured quickly and accurately, starting immediately. Record both worked time and time off, in as great detail as possible, with an auditable system that will withstand scrutiny when claims are filed.
This can and should work as intended. Businesses will be able to offer generous paid leave and receive compensation to offset its cost. The key is to establish employee buy-in before April 1st and help everyone realize this is a win-win during a difficult time.
Note: If your ClickTime account isn’t already configured with Time Off tracking features, contact us and we’ll gladly turn on Time Off tracking for you.
For paying accounts in good standing, we’ll offer this until December 31st at no charge. This module is also incredibly useful for tracking ordinary time off like vacation leave (for when people start taking vacations again...)
New to ClickTime? Contact us for a special introductory discount.
Our team is working extra hard to make sure you stay ahead of the game and will be available to you if you need any assistance at all. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Best,
The ClickTime Team
Download the COVID-19 Leave Types PDF:
