WEST COVINA, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced today that it will offer webinars on July 23, 2020, to help employers and employees in Southern California’s Chinese communities understand the benefits and protections provided by the paid sick leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Webinars will be offered in both Mandarin and Cantonese.

The webinars will focus on FFCRA paid leave requirements, including workers’ eligibility for paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave, and will explain tax credits available to covered employers. FFCRA helps the U.S. combat and defeat the workplace effects of the coronavirus by giving tax credits to American businesses with fewer than 500 employees either to provide employees with paid leave for certain reasons related to COVID-19.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to informing and educating all employers and employees about the paid leave benefits and protections available under Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” said Western Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Ruben Rosalez. “We encourage all those interested to join us for these informative webinars.”

WHD encourages employers, employees, human resource professionals, attorneys and other stakeholders to attend. There is no cost to attend, but space is limited so please join early. WHD will present the webinar in Cantonese from 2 to 3 p.m. PDT, followed by the same presentation in Mandarin from 4 to 5 p.m. PDT.

Join the presentations at https://dolwhd.cosocloud.com/ffcrawcdo/. To listen to the presentation, call: 1-866-871-9043. Use Participant Code: 7422087#

WHAT:          WHD FFCRA Webinar

WHEN:          July 23, 2020

                        2 to 3 p.m. PDT in Cantonese

                        4 to 5 p.m. PDT in Mandarin

WHERE:       On line (links above) and telephone (number and participant code above)

Members of the public with questions about attending the webinars should contact Community Outreach and Resource Planning Specialist Filiberto Quintero at (626)732-1088 or at Quintero.filiberto@dol.gov.   

Please visit WHD’s “Quick Benefits Tips” for information about how much leave workers may qualify to use and the amounts employers must pay. This new law enables employers to provide paid leave reimbursed by tax credits, while at the same time ensuring that workers do not have to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus.

WHD provides additional information on common issues employers and employees face when responding to the coronavirus and its effects on wages and hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act and on job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic.

For more information about the laws enforced by WHD, call 866-4US-WAGE, or visit www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.

For further information about the coronavirus, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation’s workforce. WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.