As parents scramble to determine how they will accommodate virtual school for their children along with their work obligations, the U.S. Department of Labor issued some clarifications regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act enacted earlier this year to address leave under the pandemic.

Under the law, companies with fewer than 500 employees must provide a certain amount of sick and paid leave to employees (including reduced pay in some cases) where the employee or a family member has been impacted by COVID-19. It also provides employers with tax credits for the paid leave.

One of the entitlements for paid leave under the law includes when the employee is unable to work or telework due to the need to care for his/her child whose school or place of care is closed due to COVID-19 related reasons.

The Labor Department responded with a series of Q&As related to the variety of new learning schedules for the fall now being offered by school systems:

On hybrid learning (either virtual and in-class):

• How does the employer apply the law if a child’s school is operating on an alternate day (or other hybrid-attendance)? Are the parents of these students entitled to take paid time under these circumstances?

Parents are eligible to take paid leave under the law on days when their children are not permitted to attend school in person and must instead engage in remote learning, the Labor Department said.

The caveat is that the leave must be needed to actually care for the child during that time and only if no other suitable person is available to do so.

Another requirement is that the school is effectively “closed” for the parent’s child on days that he or she cannot attend in person, the Labor Department said. Thus, the parent may take paid leave under the law only on the child’s remote-learning day.

On school choice:

• The Labor Department’s second clarification relates to situations where the school has provided parents the choice between having the child attend in-person or participate in a remote learning program in the fall.

Would parents be allowed to take paid leave under the law if they signed their child up for the remote learning option because the parents worried the child might contract COVID-19 and expose the family?

In that case, the parent is not entitled to take paid leave under the law because the child’s school is not “closed” due to COVID-19 related reasons, according to the DOL’s guidance. The school is actually open for the child to attend.

“FFCRA leave is not available to take care of a child whose school is open for in-person attendance. If your child is home not because his or her school is closed, but because you have chosen for the child to remain home, you are not entitled to FFCRA paid leave,” the Labor Department said.

However, if the child is under a quarantine order or has been advised by a health care provider to self-isolate or self-quarantine due to COVID-19, the department said the parent may be eligible to take paid leave to care for him or her pursuant to separate provisions under the law.

On schools starting remote learning and moving to on-campus instruction:

• Can parents take paid leave under the law when the child’s school initially offers remote learning but changes by offering in-person attendance later in the school year.

The parent may take paid leave while the child’s school remains closed, but once the school opens, the availability of the paid leave will depend on the school’s operations, the Labor Department said.

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To use the provisions under the law, employees will need to provide the qualifying reason of the need for leave, along with an oral or written statement (employers should always get a written statement) that the employee is unable to work because of the particular reason.

The worker also must provide the name of the child being cared for; the name of the school, place of care, or child care provider that has closed or become unavailable; and a representation that no other suitable person will be caring for the child during the period for which the employee takes paid sick leave (up to 80 hours) or expanded family and medical leave (up to an additional 10 weeks).

More information can be found at DOL.gov.