Employee Rights During COVID 19
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Early in the pandemic, Massachusetts and federal lawmakers passed various relief packages for businesses and individuals impacted by COVID 19. These included individual stimulus checks, emergency relief for small businesses, protected federal sick time for COVID-related needs, and expanded unemployment benefits.
Most of these benefits and protections have expired, and yet the pandemic still rages. Below is some information about your rights as employee now, in 2022, if you are affected by COVID. Sick Time and Family Medical LeaveThe Families First Coronavirus Relief Act ("FFCRA") provided important protections for workers who needed time off due to illness or quarantine related to COVID-19. The mandatory leave provisions expired at the end of 2020, but the federal tax credits available to employers who choose to provide the emergency sick leave were extended several times.
Massachusetts enacted a law effective May 28, 2021, requiring employers to provide certain paid sick leave benefits in the event an employee becomes ill with COVID or has to quarantine due to a known exposure. For employees who regularly work 40 or more hours per week, employers must provide up to 40 hours paid time for COVID related reasons. For part time employees or employees with variable work schedule, the pay must be equal to the average number of weekly hours worked, or the six month average of scheduled hours for employees with variable schedules. In addition, and independent of COVID 19, Massachusetts law requires all employers to allow a certain amount of sick time, and beginning in 2021 eligible employees may take advantage of the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave program. Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law: All employers must allow workers to accrue sick time at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to a total of 40 hours. Employers with 11 or more part time or full time employees must pay for this sick time. Smaller employers do not have to pay, but must allow for the time off without penalty. Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave ("PFML"): Employees who have contracted COVID, or who are caring for a family member who has contracted COVID, may also qualify for paid medical leave under the PFMLA. If your (or your family member's) illness has caused you to miss work three or more consecutive calendar days, and you have the proper certification from your physician, you may apply for benefits under the PFML. It is important for you to know that taking leave under any of these laws is protected leave. That means that it is unlawful for your employer to fire, demote or discipline you for taking the leave time. |
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Employer Obligations for Employee Safety
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") initially issued specific guidance for businesses and employers in Massachusetts. The CDC is no longer updating employer guidance, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") has enacted emergency temporary regulations for covered employers (generally, employers with over 100 employees and healthcare workers). OSHA has also issued non-binding guidance for employers who are not covered under the emergency regulation. The full guidance is available here, and includes the following things that your employer should do:
- Facilitate employees getting vaccinated by allowing paid or at least protected time off to get vaccinated and recover from side effects.
- Instruct any workers who are infected or have a known exposure to stay home from work and/or work remotely.
- Implement physical distancing in all communal work areas for unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers, and/or implement transparent shields or other barriers if workstations cannot be six feet apart.
- Provide workers and customers with face coverings or masks, as appropriate, unless their work task requires a respirator or other PPE.
- Educate and train workers on your COVID-19 policies and procedures using accessible formats and in languages they understand.
- Suggest or require that unvaccinated customers, visitors, or guests wear face coverings in public-facing workplaces such as retail establishments, and that all customers, visitors, or guests wear face coverings in public, indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.
- Maintain Ventilation Systems.
- Perform routine cleaning and disinfection.
- Record and report COVID-19 infections and deaths.
- Implement protections from retaliation and set up an anonymous process for workers to voice concerns about COVID-19-related hazards.
Employee Rights on Layoff or Furlough
If you are laid off, furloughed, or terminated, you have the same rights as you did before the pandemic. You have a right to be paid all earned wages and unused vacation on the day of termination. If you think you were singled out for termination for an unlawful reason, you can consult an attorney about whether that termination might have been wrongful. And, in most cases, you should be eligible to collect unemployment benefits.
Your employer has the right to close down operations and lay people off. They do not have the right to withhold payment for wages already earned or unused vacation time. This is where an important piece of the wage and hour laws comes in to play. Even if the business itself is closed and has no assets, officers with management of the company (in small businesses, often the same person or people as the owners of the company) are personally liable for unpaid wages.
This may seem harsh, but it is designed to protect workers and prevent unscrupulous business owners from shuttering a company and moving on to the next endeavor without paying their employees earned wages.
If your employer has closed and you are still owed wages, you should consult with an employment lawyer to understand your options. In most cases you have 2-3 years to bring a wage and hour claim under the law. You may, however, want to act more quickly than that to make sure you have the ability as a practical matter to collect what is owed to you.
Your employer has the right to close down operations and lay people off. They do not have the right to withhold payment for wages already earned or unused vacation time. This is where an important piece of the wage and hour laws comes in to play. Even if the business itself is closed and has no assets, officers with management of the company (in small businesses, often the same person or people as the owners of the company) are personally liable for unpaid wages.
This may seem harsh, but it is designed to protect workers and prevent unscrupulous business owners from shuttering a company and moving on to the next endeavor without paying their employees earned wages.
If your employer has closed and you are still owed wages, you should consult with an employment lawyer to understand your options. In most cases you have 2-3 years to bring a wage and hour claim under the law. You may, however, want to act more quickly than that to make sure you have the ability as a practical matter to collect what is owed to you.
How We Can Help
We can help answer your specific questions about employee rights during the COVID-19 crisis. We routinely conduct consultations and meetings by phone or video-conference, so you can reach out without increasing your exposure to the virus. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
