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Effective March 29, 2021 all California employers with more than 25 employees are required to display the newly introduced 2021 CA COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Notice.
This law extends up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to eligible employees in addition to leave that was provided under previous laws which expired on December 31, 2020. The law is retroactive to January 1, 2021 and will be in effect through September 30, 2021.
After reviewing the rule for consistency with law and policy, the DOL announced that it will allow provisions that increase worker protections and earnings to take effect in April, including provisions that:
Prohibit employers (including managers and supervisors) from keeping their employees’ tips, regardless of whether the employer takes a tip credit; and
Allow employers that do not take a tip credit to include non-tipped workers (including cooks and dishwashers) in nontraditional tip-sharing agreements.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), enacted March 11, 2021, includes changes to emergency paid sick leave and paid family leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The ARPA extended the tax credits through Sept. 30, 2021, for employers that continue to provide FFCRA leave voluntarily (beyond the Dec. 31, 2020, expiration date) and made changes to tax credit eligibility for both types of FFCRA leave.
On March 23, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it is extending access to a special enrollment period (SEP) through Exchanges on the federal www.HealthCare.gov platform due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Originally available through May 15, 2021, the extended SEP provides three additional months for enrollment, allowing eligible individuals to enroll in Exchange coverage through Aug. 15, 2021.
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law March 11, 2021, provides a 100% subsidy of premiums for employer-sponsored group health insurance continued under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) and similar state continuation of coverage (mini-COBRA) programs.
ARPA subsidies cover the full cost of COBRA or mini-COBRA premiums from April 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2021, for employees (and their qualifying family members), if the employee lost or loses group health insurance due to an involuntary job loss or reduction in work hours.
