By Bradley Cave

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act created a bizarre contradiction for healthcare employers.  While hospitals, clinics and other patient care providers worked under great strain to care for patients, with COVID-19 and other maladies, the Act would have permitted employees of healthcare providers to be absent from work, sometimes with pay, in some situations for up to 12 weeks.  Saturday afternoon, the DOL issued new guidance to greatly expand the scope of employees that healthcare providers can exclude from the leave rights under FFCRA, sparing providers from crippling staff shortages during this pandemic.

FFCRA permitted employers to elect to exclude healthcare providers and emergency responders from the leave rights created by the act.  However, the act did not define emergency responder, and borrowed the FMLA’s narrow definition of healthcare provider.  As the act was written, healthcare employers could exclude only doctors, nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants, along with a handful of other licensed professionals, from the leave rights under the act.  Notably, RNs, LPNs and CNAs were not on the list of employees that could be excluded, nor were pharmacists, pharmacy techs, any type of therapists, or any of the support staff necessary to operate a hospital, nursing home or medical practice. Read more