On September 11, 2020, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) released revisions to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) published on April 1, 2020. The revisions are in response to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York’s opinion in State of New York v. U.S. Department of Labor and are effective September 16, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
Initially, the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act contained a broad exemption for “health care providers” and “emergency responders.” The broad exemption for employees working as “emergency responders” remains unchanged, however, effective September 16, the DOL has narrowed the definition of “health care provider” which now includes two distinct groups that remain ineligible for Expanded Family Medical Leave:
1) Anyone who is a licensed doctor of medicine, nurse practitioner, or other health care provider permitted to issue a certification for purposes of the FMLA, or
2) Any other person who is employed to provide diagnostic services, preventive services, treatment services, or other services that are integrated with and necessary to the provision of patient care and, if not provided, would adversely impact patient care. This group includes employees who provide direct diagnostic, preventive, treatment, or other patient care services, such as nurses, nurse assistants, and medical technicians. It also includes employees who directly assist or are supervised by a direct provider of diagnostic, preventive, treatment, or other patient care services. Finally, employees who do not provide direct heath care services to a patient but are otherwise integrated into and necessary to the provision those services—for example, a laboratory technician who processes medical test results to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of a health condition—are health care providers.
Impacted Departments: Based on the above definitions, certain employees working for the following UA departments remain designated as “health care providers” or “emergency responders” and are therefore exempt from receiving Expanded Family Medical Leave: College of Community Health Sciences, Student Health Center, Brewer-Porch Children’s Center, Psychology Clinic, RISE, Speech and Hearing Center, Capstone Village Retirement, Women and Gender Resource Center, Counseling Center, Collegiate Recovery, The University of Alabama Police Department (UAPD), Working on Womanhood (WOW) Program, Youth Services Institute (YSI), Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic, and Autism Clinic.
Updated Eligibility: Certain types of employees in these departments previously classified as “health care providers” are now eligible for Expanded Family Medical Leave beginning September 16. The DOL clarified that a person is not a health care provider merely because his or her employer provides health care services or because he or she provides a service that affects the provision of health care services. For example, IT professionals, building maintenance staff, human resources personnel, cooks, food services workers, records managers, consultants and billers are not health care providers, even if they work at a hospital or a similar health care facility.
Additional information about the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act is available on the HR website under COVID-19 FAQs. Direct questions to the HR Service Center at (205) 348-7732 or email hrsvctr@ua.edu.