Since COVID-19 is growing, more businesses are requesting that their workers operate from home. Many employees, however, may not have that choice. In reality, around a quarter of them do not get any sick leave or anything like that. They are faced with a difficult decision: get paid or sit at home.

This is not a good condition for specific employees or the general public. Therefore, it is indeed optimistic that the government has realized that there is a crisis. For the sake of everyone’s good, workers should be allowed to work at home and be compensated.

The US Congress Acts

President Donald Trump signed the Families, To begin with, the Coronavirus Reaction Act on March 18. Five days before, the House had approved it by a vote of 363 to 40.

Besides that, Trump has stated that he supports much more assistance in the form of cash grants to those staff who have been laid off as a result of the coronavirus. Details will be revealed by the end of March; however, sources suggest that they may hope to earn two weeks’ salary in checks.

This will at least double the government payments for employees working from home with coronavirus (or possible coronavirus). The Coronavirus Response Act will provide these employees with paid sick leave worth 100% of their salaries for two weeks, up to a maximum of $511 per day, even though they have no signs but are still told to quarantine at home.

Besides, the Act will provide parents looking after children whose schools had closed, up to 12 weeks of paid parental and medical leave, up to 67 percent of their salary with a daily limit of $200.

What Does It Involve?

It is essential to mention that the Coronavirus Response Act’s provisions do not apply to all employees. Companies of more than 500 workers will be excluded, presumably on the basis that they currently offer an average of eight days of sick time to their employees and may be assumed to provide more. Companies having less than 50 workers will be excluded if covering the benefits would “put the business’s survival in jeopardy.”

By receiving a refund that they could refer against the tax they pay on an employee’s Social Security, businesses will pay for the extra sick pay. The government will check for the disparity if the sum they charged for sick leave exceeds the Social Security fee.

As per the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, some 27% of private-sector employees do not have any sick leave. After the Coronavirus Response Act is enacted, the organization reports that approximately 12% of employees — particularly those who work for small businesses that may demand an exemption from the sick-pay policy by saying it would jeopardize their company — will already be without sick leave. (However, these employees will likely collect Trump’s proposed payments.)

Unemployment Benefits and Tax Credits

Gig employees, on the other hand, are not forgotten. These freelancers serve without being compensated on sick leave.  As a result, whether they are injured or their job delays or drags to a stop, they will not be able to refer to a specific hourly wage. They are qualified for a tax deduction equivalent to two weeks of their average salary and 12 weeks of family pay at 67 percent of their daily wages under the Coronavirus Response Act.

In addition to these initiatives, the state’s government has played a significant role in delivering aid in dealing with a flood of unemployment compensation claims, much of which came from restaurant and bar employees and those in the hospitality sector.

These are challenging days, with an unpredictable path ahead. It is reassuring to realize that the government, both federal and state, is working to eliminate some suffering.

The long-term consequences of COVID-19 on our physical and economic fitness, on the other hand, remain unknown.