The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) requires private companies with fewer than 500 employees, along with most public employers regardless of size, to post a notice summarizing the benefits available under the new law and directs the Department of Labor to prepare and publish a model notice. The Department issued its model notice Wednesday, March 25th. A copy is available here. Although the FFCRA does not go into effect until April 1, 2020, our advice is to post the notice now.

In addition to a model notice, the Department published a helpful FAQ page, which is available here. Here are the highlights:

• Covered employers are required to post the notice in conspicuous places, but “may satisfy this requirement by emailing or direct mailing this notice to employees, or posting this notice on an employee information internal or external website.” Given the number of employees working remotely electronic distribution may make sense. However, we still recommend posting a physical copy of the poster wherever you usually put legally required postings.
• There may be revisions and updates to the model notice, in which case employers will need to take down the initial notice and replace it with the updated version.
• Employers are not required to translate the notice into other languages. However, the Department is working on its own translations into an unspecified list of other languages.

We will continue to keep you posted on new developments regarding the FFCRA and other legal issues related to COVID-19.