Attorneys on both sides of labor and employment cases warn that companies should prepare for a potential onslaught of private litigation from workers covered by new paid-leave mandates under federal coronavirus-relief law.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116-127) gives workers at companies with more than 50 and fewer than 500 employees the right to bring cases over unpaid leave to court. That includes through class or collective actions—a provision that some businesses may not realize is part of the law, labor and employment attorneys said.
“This can be big-time litigation for the plaintiffs’ bar,” said ...