Hoffman Discusses Sick Leave Protections for Healthcare Workers

Partner Carrie Hoffman was quoted in a Texas Tribune article, “Healthcare workers on the front lines of coronavirus don’t get expanded paid sick leave protections,” about an exemption from the paid leave provisions in the emergency coronavirus legislation passed by Congress in March for first responders and health care providers.

Hoffman said the Labor Department’s guidelines, which instruct employers to “be judicious” in exempting their workers, means that an employer might deny a healthcare worker’s request to stay home because she has no child care, but grant it if she is actually sick. “You  [an employer] can exempt them; it doesn’t say you have to exempt them,” she said.