With new Department of Labor regulations comes the question, 'who exactly is a health care provider?'
The question has been answered by the DOL on Saturday at the below link (see Q&A #55-57). This means healthcare providers do not have to grant time off nor pay it/ receive tax credit per the FFCRA. You can but you do not have to. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-questions
Who is a “health care provider” who may be excluded by their employer from paid sick leave and/or expanded family and medical leave?
The term “health care provider,” as used to determine individuals whose advice to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19 can be relied on as a qualifying reason for paid sick leave, means a licensed doctor of medicine, nurse practitioner, or other health care provider permitted to issue a certification for purposes of the FMLA.
Who is a “health care provider” who may be excluded by their employer from paid sick leave and/or expanded family and medical leave?
- For the purposes of employees who may be exempted from paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave by their employer under the FFCRA, a health care provider is anyone employed at any doctor’s office, hospital, health care center, clinic, post-secondary educational institution offering health care instruction, medical school, local health department or agency, nursing facility, retirement facility, nursing home, home health care provider, any facility that performs laboratory or medical testing, pharmacy, or any similar institution, employer, or entity.
- This includes any permanent or temporary institution, facility, location, or site where medical services are provided that are similar to such institutions.
- This definition includes any individual employed by an entity that contracts with any of the above institutions, employers, or entities institutions to provide services or to maintain the operation of the facility.
- This also includes anyone employed by any entity that provides medical services, produces medical products, or is otherwise involved in the making of COVID-19 related medical equipment, tests, drugs, vaccines, diagnostic vehicles, or treatments.
- This also includes any individual that the highest official of a state or territory, including the District of Columbia, determines is a health care provider necessary for that state’s or territory’s or the District of Columbia’s response to COVID-19.
To minimize the spread of the virus associated with COVID-19, the Department encourages employers to be judicious when using this definition to exempt health care providers from the provisions of the FFCRA.
