President-elect Biden to Unveil $1.9 Trillion Economic Recovery and Stimulus Package
This evening, President-elect Joe Biden plans to unveil a COVID-19 stimulus and economic recovery plan entitled the American Rescue Plan. Biden’s plan calls for $1.9 trillion to extend and enhance federal paid sick, family, and medical leave under the FFCRA, improve vaccine distribution, provide an additional round of direct payments to Americans, and provide additional funding to struggling state and local governments.
Of particular interest to SWACCA members, the American Rescue Plan calls for: (1) an extension, until September 30, 2021, of the FFCRA paid leave requirements and eliminating the exemption for employers with more than 500 and less than 50 employees, while extending the refundable credit for employers with less than 500 employees; (2) Congress to authorize the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a COVID-19 protection standard that “covers a broad set of workers, so that workers not typically covered by OSHA…also receive protection from unsafe working conditions and retaliation”; (3) providing a maximum paid leave benefit of $1,400 per week which represents “full wage replacement for workers earning up to $75,000 per year; and (4) an increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
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