MACON, Ga. — The school year is back, and some parents have to choose between work or staying home with their children.
"If you have a child, and there's no other person who can care for the child, and school is closed, and you need to be there with the child of course, that's how this works," says financial advisor Sherri Goss.
The CARES Act was passed back in March, but one portion, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, allows for up to 12 weeks of partial paid leave for parents to be able to stay home with their children.
"The biggest thing for me is you have to go talk to your employer about it and see if they are doing this," says Goss.
Goss says this lasts until the end of the year, December 31, but certain businesses are not included.
Private companies with less than 50 employees can opt out and companies with more than 500 employees are not eligible. Goss says the only way to know for sure is to ask Human Resources.
"If they don't have an HR person specifically and the company's using maybe an association or a vendor for HR, they need to ask for that entity and that entity will be able to help them because there are certain forms that have to be filled out and have to also be approved by the employer," she says.
Goss says you can choose to take anywhere from two to 12 weeks for paid leave, but making sure your employer knows ahead of time is important.