Availability of FFCRA Leave Due to Closure of Children’s Summer Programs

July 8, 2020

On June 26, 2020 the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2020-4, which offers additional guidance on Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) leave based on the closure of summer camps, summer enrichment programs, or other summer programs.

As discussed in previous Kurker Paget alerts (available here and here), FFCRA leave is available if an employee is unable to work or telework due to a need to care for their child whose place of care is closed due to COVID-19 related reasons. An employee requesting FFCRA leave to care for their child must provide their employer with an explanation of why leave is required, a statement that they are unable to work because of that reason, the name of their child, the name of the school or place of care, and a statement that no other suitable person is available to care for the child.

Under the FFCRA regulations, “places of care” include summer camps and summer enrichment programs. Employees who request FFCRA leave to care for their child based on closure of a summer camp or program are subject to the same notice requirements described above, and should provide their employer with the name of the specific summer camp or program that would have been the child’s place of care had it not closed. 

The guidance clarifies the circumstances under which a summer program may qualify as a child’s place of care, even if the program closed because of COVID-19 before the child began attending. Specifically, a summer camp or program may qualify as the child’s place of care if the child:

  • Was enrolled in the camp or program before it closed; 

  • Applied to the camp or program before its closure;

  • Submitted a deposit to the camp or program; 

  • Attended the camp or program during the summer of 2018 or 2019 and remains eligible to attend the program (e.g., a 13-year-old child who attended a summer camp for children ages 10 to 12 in 2018 and 2019 would no longer qualify to attend the same camp in 2020); or

  • Was accepted to the camp or program’s waitlist pending reopening.

Although the circumstances described above may establish a summer camp or program as a child’s place of care, the guidance also states that there are a “multitude of possible circumstances under which an employee may establish (1) a plan to send his or her child to a summer camp or program, or (2) that even though the employee had no such plan at the time the summer camp or program closed due to COVID-19, his or her child would have nevertheless attended the camp or program had it not closed….” 

For further information, contact Margaret H. Paget or Allyson Kurker at Kurker Paget LLC.