The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) required that qualifying employers provide paid sick and family leave to eligible employees between April 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
Under the FFCRA, employees could receive paid leave in the following situations:
- Ten days of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay: Employees who are quarantined or isolated due to the coronavirus, up to a maximum daily rate of $511 ($5,110 total maximum).
- Ten days of paid sick leave at two-thirds of the employee’s regular rate of pay: Employees who are caring for someone who is quarantined or isolated due to the coronavirus, up to a maximum daily rate of $200 ($2,000 total maximum).
- Ten weeks of paid family leave at two-thirds of the employee’s regular rate of pay: Employees caring for a child whose school or childcare center had closed, up to a maximum daily rate of $200 ($10,000 total maximum).
If an employee received one or more of the above coronavirus paid sick or family wages, the employee can expect the amounts to be reported on Form W-2.
According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), employers must report FFCRA sick pay and paid family leave as follows:
- Include the amount in boxes 1, 3, and 5 on form W-2.
- Report the amount in box 14 (Other) on form W-2 OR report the amount in a separate statement and attach to form W-2.
Illinois State University has elected to report the FFCRA sick pay and paid family leave amount in box 14 (Other).
In reporting the amount in box 14 on form W-2, Illinois State University will use the following descriptions (provided by the IRS) to describe each amount the employee received:
- “Sick leave wages subject to the $511 per day limit.”
- “Sick leave wages subject to the $200 per day limit.”
- “Emergency family leave wages.”
