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Companies Grapple With Whether to Offer Paid Sick Leave to Workers During Coronavirus Pandemic


Readers might have heard that over the weekend, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, that would provide paid family and medical leave for some workers, following the coronavirus being declared a national emergency by President Donald Trump last Friday.  The legislation would provide paid leave for workers if they had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, if they were caring for a family member who had been diagnosed with it, or if they were caring for a child or another depending because of a school or care facility that had closed.  According to the language approved by the House, those workers that qualify would receive 2/3 of their average monthly earnings, with a cap of $4,000.00 for up to 12 weeks.  Notably, the benefits would be paid retroactively and would be available for those that had to leave work starting January 19, 2020.  (However, this paid leave would only apply to companies with fewer than 500 employees.)  As well, there would be an emergency paid leave provision that would enable qualifying workers to take two weeks of paid leave at 100% of their normal salary.

While that legislation is currently in the U.S. Senate awaiting further debate and a vote, many companies around the country have started to grapple with how to handle sick employees and whether to offer paid sick leave.  Although I do not intend to get into each and every company that is offering paid leave to its workers during this unprecedented time, I wanted to highlight a few relevant developments:

  • Uber & Lyft announced they would offer up to fourteen days of paid sick leave to drivers that were quarantined or had contracted the coronavirus, earning praise and criticism alike following the announcement.  (It is worth noting that at this time, it is unclear how much, in terms of pay, these drivers would receive that utilize the paid leave option.)  However, some have been critical of these two companies for not offering the paid leave to undiagnosed drivers and those that have not been ordered to quarantine.
  • Whole Foods is offering unlimited, unpaid time off to its workers during the month of March as well as two weeks of paid time off for workers that are diagnosed with coronavirus.  Whole Foods has been under fire after its CEO, John Mackey, suggested that employees donate their paid time off to other coworkers facing a medical emergency.  
  • Delta is offering voluntary, short term, unpaid leave to its workers.  This comes on the heels of CEO, Ed Bastian, announcing last week that he would forgo his salary for six months in an effort to help the company conserve cash and attempt to avoid layoffs.
  • Instacart is going to offer its employees and contractors that are diagnosed with coronavirus (or that are under mandatory quarantine) up to fourteen days of paid leave.
  • Darden Restaurants (which is the parent company of many restaurants, including Olive Garden) will offer up to 40 hours of paid sick leave annually to all of its hourly employees.  The paid leave will be accrued at a rate of one hour of sick leave for every thirty hours worked.
  • Walmart announced it would offer up to two weeks of pay to employees that are diagnosed with coronavirus or placed into quarantine.  However, employees will not be asked to dip into their paid leave during this time away from work.
  • Apple will offer unlimited, paid time off to its hourly employees who become sick with fold or flu like symptoms, similar to the coronavirus.

Of course, some cities or states might have already adopted their own paid leave ordinances to deal with the coronavirus and its disruption to the workplace.  I would suspect that in the coming days and weeks, other companies (both nationally and at the local level) will adopt or modify their own paid leave policies.


For additional information about the legislation pending in the U.S. Senate:  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/what-s-congress-emergency-coronavirus-bill-here-s-what-you-n1159096

 For additional information about some companies offering paid leave:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/10/walmart-apple-olive-garden-are-among-major-employers-updating-sick-leave-policies-coronavirus-cases-spread/

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