The U.S. Department of Labor yesterday issued its first round of guidance on the provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which goes into effect April 1. The guidance consists of a Fact Sheet for Employees, a Fact Sheet for Employers, and Questions and Answers.

The Q&As address key threshold questions regarding how employers must count their employees to determine whether they are subject to the paid leave requirement and when separate entities must be combined for purposes of the headcount test. The paid leave provisions apply only to businesses that, at the time an employee’s leave is taken, have fewer than 500 full-time and part-time employees, including temporary employees. Because staffing firm headcounts can fluctuate significantly from week to week—which could cause firms whose headcounts are close to the 500-employee threshold to move above and below the threshold—ASA will propose that firms that have fluctuating headcounts be permitted to use a fixed prior period for making the determination—for example, its average weekly headcount in the immediately preceding calendar year.

ASA will seek clarification of these and other issues in subsequent DOL fact sheets and Q&As.

Companies may have concerns about employees returning to work after being exposed to, or testing positive for, COVID-19. Seyfarth Shaw has developed a protocol that employers can use in those instances where employees have been required to remain home from work due to illness or a voluntary quarantine. It includes a questionnaire for employees to complete prior to re-entering the workplace.

The document is the newest resource available at americanstaffing.net/covid-19, the association’s COVID-19 microsite that is continuously updated with tools staffing companies can use to address the safety of their workforces and find reliable information about the coronavirus.