Every day the COVID-19 global pandemic seems to worsen, and trying to keep up with all the developments can seem overwhelming. For Human Resources professionals, each passing day brings tough choices and agonizing decisions. Wednesday night the United States Congress and President Trump took action to address the damage being done to the American workforce, passing into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The FFCRA represents a monumental shift in employment law, building on the framework of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and providing new categories of paid emergency FMLA leave and paid emergency sick leave. Overnight, the rules about how to treat leaves of absence changed, and it falls to the HR community to interpret, implement and enforce these workplace rules even while the world we have come to know seemingly crumbles around us.
If this pandemic has taught us anything it’s this simple message. We can only get through this by taking care of each other. In that spirit, in partnership with Oklahoma Human Resources (OKHR) state council, Crowe & Dunlevy is hosting a recorded panel of its Labor & Employment Practice Group attorneys who have been working tirelessly with the business community to find answers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This recorded panel will explain what the FFCRA requires, how to comply, the legal pitfalls to avoid and what steps you should be taking now to prepare your workforce for the seismic changes that come with this new law.
In addition, the recorded panel will tackle other challenging aspects of the pandemic’s effect on the workplace, including:
- Communications to employees and customers (Employer Action Plan)
- Implementing travel restrictions
- Mandatory self-quarantine plans
- Americans with Disabilities Act, OSHA, Workers’ Compensation and Unemployment issues
- Telework
- Furloughs, Layoffs and Reductions in Force
The Crowe & Dunlevy recorded panel will also answer questions submitted in advance by attendees (submit to info@crowedunlevy.com by 3 p.m. on Monday, March 23), as we all work together to find solutions to what feels like an impossible situation. Working together, we can do what Oklahomans and Americans always do—get up, dust ourselves off and get to work fixing things and making it right. We hope you join us for this special event.
View the Families First Coronavirus Response Act Virtual Panel on YouTube.
