The extension of the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and California Covid-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave law are both set to expire on September 30, 2021. At this time, there is no activity to extend either law.
What This Means
You are not required to provide supplemental sick leave for Covid-19 leave taken after September 30, 2021*. Any leave taken after this date will not qualify for federal tax credits under the FFCRA.
What You Need To Do
Step 1: Download the latest version of Datatech Software if you have not updated your software since July 1, 2021. To do this, go to Tools > Check for Updates.
Any new employees entered after September 30, 2021, will no longer have an automatic balance created for Covid-19 sick leave.
Note: For Farm & Labor Contractor customers, your version would need to be #.173.0.2670 or higher. The initial number “#” may be 7,8, or 9. To check your version go to Help > About.
Step 2: Before your first October payroll check printing, you need to clear the California Covid Leave Balances. To do this, go to Payroll > Setup > California Covid-19 Leave Balance Setup > Click Start Over.
This will zero out all balances. When there are no balances set up, the leave will not print on payroll check stubs.
If you are not able to do a software update, you can reset the balances as many times as needed by clicking the Start Over button before printing a batch of checks. This way balances on new employees get zeroed out before printing checks.
* IMPORTANT: If the law expires while a covered employee is taking this leave, the employee can finish taking the amount of 2021 Covid-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave they are entitled to receive. – DIR 2021 Covid Supplemental Paid Leave FAQ’s #8
This means that if you clear totals starting October, you will need to manually keep track of any employees currently taking leave and how much they are entitled to receive. Any Covid leave taken after September 30, 2021, does not qualify for the Federal Tax Credit and would need to be coded as CA Covid.