Barragán Introduces the Public Health Emergency Response Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44) June 12 introduced legislation to address future pandemics by providing paid sick and family leave to those impacted by public health emergencies declared as a result of infectious diseases. Paid sick and family leave provides workers with basic protections necessary to safeguard their health and income.

The Public Health Emergency Response Act would require employers to provide paid leave to employees who are isolating due to an infectious disease that has spread significantly enough to result in a declared public health emergency, those caring for a family member with the virus, or someone impacted by a place of care closure due to the covered disease.

The Public Health Emergency Response Act, modeled after the Families First Coronavirus Response Act or FFCRA, requires employers to provide paid leave for specified reasons related to Public Health Emergencies:

1. Provides paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay when the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined or experiencing symptoms of a covered disease and seeking a medical diagnosis; or
   • Paid sick leave because the employee is unable to work because of a need to care for an individual subject to quarantine.
2. At least twelve weeks of paid expanded family and medical leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay when an employee is unable to work due to a need for leave to care for a family member impacted by a place of care closure related to a public health emergency.
3. Authorizes the Department of Labor, in consultation with the Centers for Disease and Control, to determine the number of eligible weeks of leave an employee receives related to the covered disease.
4. Prohibits an employer from interfering or retaliating against an employee for using their right to paid leave.

The Public Health Emergencies Response Act also provides employers with refundable tax credits that reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave wages to their employees for leave related to a public health emergency.