Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021

President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 (“Act”). The Act is part of a much larger appropriations bill that is over 5,000 pages and includes numerous provisions, many of which are unrelated to employment matters. As a result, please allow the following to serve as a quick summary of those provisions that are relevant in the employment law realm.

• The Act removed for eligible employers (under 500 employees) the mandatory component of the Emergency Paid Sick Leave (“EPSL”) and the Emergency Family Medical Leave Act (“EFMLA”). As a result, any employee who has not used his/her 80 hours of EPSL or up to 12 weeks of EFMLA prior to December 31, 2020 will have forfeited that benefit. Beginning on January 1, 2021, employers are not required to offer this benefit. However, the Act did extend the tax credit reimbursement on quarterly federal payroll tax payments through March 31, 2021 for those employers who voluntarily opt-in and provide to their employees the EPSL and/or the EFMLA from January 1, 2021 through March 31, 2021.
• The Act extended the deadline for when an employee, who decided to forego federal employment taxes, must reimburse the federal government for the unpaid taxes from April 30, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
• The Act reopened the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) from the summer of 2020 by allowing those businesses who did not request their entire amount of the PPP loan for which they were eligible to now ask for the remaining balance.
• The Act has created a second PPP loan for employers (profit and not-for-profit) with under 300 employees. However, these employers must meet additional eligibility requirements such as using all of their first PPP loan amount for the proper purposes and the business must have sustained at least a 25% loss in any quarter of 2020. In addition, the second PPP loan is capped at the lesser of 2.5 times the monthly average payroll or $2 million.
• The PPP loans are available until March 31, 2021 or until all of the allocated funds have been disbursed.

Please contact a member of the Employment and Labor Law team listed below for further specifics regarding the provisions within the Act and for any other questions or concerns.