FACT BRIEF

Did federal COVID-19 sick leave provisions lapse at the end of 2020?

Monday, January 4, 2021

By Mia Dillon

Copy link

Copy featured image

YES

The coronavirus relief package enacted at the end of 2020 didn't extend requirements for some employers to provide sick leave to employees with COVID-19 or COVID-related caregiving responsibilities. The legislation did extend the payroll tax credit for paid sick or family leave through March 2021.

Earlier relief measures, which expired on Dec. 31, 2020, required that certain public employers and “private employers with fewer than 500 employees” offer two weeks of paid sick leave for ill employees, two weeks of reduced-pay sick leave for employees caring for sick relatives or children home from school and (for some employees) up to an additional 10 weeks of reduced-pay leave for caregiving responsibilities.

Various states and cities have established their own COVID-related leave requirements.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Department of Labor: FFCRA leave requirements expired Dec. 31, 2020

Department of Labor: Families First Coronavirus Response

JD Supra: New COVID-19 relief bill does not require employers to provide paid leave in the new year

Mercer: States, cities tackle COVID-19 paid leave

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF BY

Latest fact briefs

About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.