Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) that provides extended access to paid sick days and family and medical leave. The Emergency Paid Sick Leave section requires paid sick leave for the coronavirus pandemic through December 31, 2020. The Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion section provides up to 12 weeks of paid emergency leave until December 21, 2020 (). It offers employees who are no longer able to work or work from home because they need to care for a son or daughter whose school or child care service is closed because of the pandemic (CLASP, 2020).

Eligibility for this act includes employees that work for private employers with less than 500 employees, government employees at the local, state, and federal level, and employees of any immigration status. By extending benefits to the private sector, this act helps out low wage workers who may not have been provided paid leave by their employer before. The act does, however, allow employers of health care providers and emergency responders to opt out, which affects those most vulnerable to coming in contact with the virus and increase exposure. Wage replacement also only provides workers with ⅔ of their typical wage, making it difficult for those who earn low or minimum wage to afford to take advantage of leave. Additionally, limiting paid family and medical leave to child care restricts people from being able to access time for personal recovery or care of other family members (CLASP, 2020).