Listen to today's Minute as we talk about a new rule passed by the labor department last Friday. The new rule revises the definition of healthcare providers that are exempted from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act requirement that was passed back in March. The requirement required any business with less than 500 workers to give up to two weeks of paid sick leave to employees affected by the virus and 10 weeks of partially paid family leave for any working parents to care for children whose school or daycare is closed to COVID-19.
The Department of Labor has narrowed the rules and it now includes more people once again. The two big categories that are now included for those workers are any worker who provides diagnostic services, preventative services, treatment services, or other services that are integrated and necessary to the provision of patient care. So more than just doctors or nurses, this now includes staff members who do things like radiology or possibly even receptionists at a healthcare workers office. Previously, the court had said you can't include people like cafeteria workers and people who aren't directly providing healthcare, but this Department of Labor response to that court opinion is sort of bringing those people back in, because the other category of exempted people that the new Department of Labor rule includes are those who are "integrated a necessary for the provision of patient care".
