Families First Coronavirus Response Act: What’s In and What’s Out

Commentary by CEPR’s Eileen Appelbaum -

Early Saturday, the House passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, with compromises negotiated by Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. Today, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)’s Co-Director Eileen Appelbaum, published a commentary about what was passed and what got left out. Here is an excerpt:

"One of the most egregious compromises is the “big box store exclusion” that excludes employers with more than 500 employees from the Families First bill’s paid sick days and paid leave provisions. The legislation excludes workers at big companies like Whole Foods and McDonald’s as well as those at Walmart and Target, whose CEOs appeared with President Trump on Friday afternoon as he declared a national health emergency. Small employers with less than 50 employees can seek a hardship waiver from the Trump administration’s Department of Labor.

"The American Hospital Association lobbied successfully to eliminate provisions that would have set safety standards for health care workers and shielded nurses, EMTs, and other workers on the frontlines of the battle against the pandemic from contracting COVID-19. One wonders what hospital executives are thinking, since protecting workers is vital to keeping hospitals from becoming short-staffed and unable to care for seriously ill patients. Not having rules exposes nurses, doctors, aides, and others to a heightened risk of infection.

"The original House bill allowed paid sick days to be utilized to care for loved ones who are “otherwise in need of care.” This would have covered situations where people with disabilities lose their paid caregivers due to the pandemic and need a loved one to provide the necessary care. Unfortunately for individuals with disabilities, the compromise bill does not cover a family member who takes off from work and steps-in as a caregiver in this situation."

Click here to see the full text of Families First Coronavirus Response Act: What’s In and What’s Out.