We’ve mentioned it before – the Feds really want you to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated. Providing paid time off for vaccinations “is an investment in the safety, productivity and health of an employer’s own workforce and their community,” the White House announced yesterday.
President Biden expects to meet his goal of 200 million shots administered in 100 days today, which is double the goal he originally had when he came into office.
The President is calling for every employer to offer full pay to their employees for any time off needed to get vaccinated and for any recovery time afterwards. The American Rescue Plan provides tax credits for employers with under 500 employees who chose to extend the FFCRA emergency paid sick leave for this purpose. If you choose to extend this leave, employees are eligible for up to 80 hours and up to $511 per day of paid sick leave between April 1 and September 30, 2021, for vaccination and recovery.
Tax Credit Guidance
In tandem with this White House announcement, the IRS released its highly anticipated fact sheet on how to claim the tax credits under the American Rescue Plan. Eligible employers report their total paid sick and family leave wages (plus the eligible health plan expenses and collectively bargained contributions and the eligible employer’s share of social security and Medicare taxes on the paid leave wages) for each quarter on their federal employment tax return, usually Form 941
The IRS still has not clarified what documentation, if any, is required to be submitted to substantiate the use of sick leave for vaccination appointments and recovery. Based on the low bar for documentation for other forms of FFCRA leave, the IRS will likely only need the date of the vaccination appointment and possibly the vaccination appointment site.
The White House also clarified that in total, the maximum amount of tax credits an employer can claim per employees is $17,110 for 14 weeks of paid leave not only to get vaccination, but also to take time off for other COVID-19 related reasons. See our blog on the FFCRA Extension here.
What about Vaccine Incentives?
The EEOC announced that it will provide guidance shortly on employer incentives to encourage employees to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. Other than providing paid leave for vaccination, it is not clear what is an appropriate employer incentive for vaccination that does not interfere with the American with Disabilities Act. The EEOC has in the past instructed that employers may generally offer no more than small incentives to encourage employees to take part in the program that asks them to provide medical information.
But President Biden is calling on Companies to use their unique resources to provide information about how people can get vaccinated and why people should get vaccinated: “These commitments could include discounts for vaccinated individuals, product giveaways or brand rewards, messaging in-store, point-of purchase promotions, direct outreach to customers, or Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about the importance of vaccinations.”
Keep checking the EEOC website here to stay on top of COVID-19 incentive guidelines.
Have questions on providing vaccine-related leave? We are here to help.