Many counties are issuing “stay at home” orders where only businesses deemed as “essential” can continue remain open. These lists of “essential” businesses are not uniform from county to county so you will need to check your county’s Emergency Executive Order to determine if your business would qualify as “essential” or not. We have a copy of the Orange County, Florida Executive Order that was signed yesterday (3/24/2020) and will continue to obtain copies from other counties as those are signed/passed.

If your business is deemed as “essential”, we also have sample letters you can provide to employees to use for travel. Please let us know if you need copies of these samples for use.

If your business qualifies as “essential”, push the fact that you are staying open as a positive. Make sure each employee understands that you are trying to keep them working and getting paid as long as you can so they can take care of their families. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), the paid leave does not take effect until April 1st so anyone not working prior to 4/1 will not be eligible for payments under the FFCRA. 

You may have heard the Senate stuck a deal late last night on an additional relief bill, but it still has not yet passed the House. More details on the provisions of this bill will be forthcoming once it is signed into law by the President.