Date:​ September 10, 2020

To:​ Members

From:​ Priscilla Rodriguez, Director of Regulatory Affairs

Subject:​IRS Paid Sick Leave Credit

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The Families First Coronavirus Act (FFCRA) required certain employers to provide employees with up to a combined 12 weeks of paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19 through December 31, 2020. The employer benefit included in the FFCRA is a refundable tax credit – Paid Sick Leave Credit for eligible employers with fewer than 500 employees.

In anticipation of receiving the credit eligible employers can funds qualified leave wages and allocable qualified health care expenses and employers share of Medicare taxes on the qualified leave wages to its employees in a calendar quarter by reducing federal tax deposits for that quarter. You must account for the reduction in deposits on the Form 941 for the quarter.

The paid sick leave credit and paid family leave credit are available for eligible employers who pay qualified sick leave wages and/or qualified family leave wages from 4/1/2020 through 12/31/2020.Eligible employers may claim the tax credit if the employee is unable to work or telework due to for qualified reasons related to COVID-19.

Paid Leave Refundable Credit:

• Qualified paid leave provided between April 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020
• Fully refundable tax credit
• Includes the eligible employer’s share of Medicare tax
• Includes allocable cost of maintaining health insurance coverage
• Qualified Leave Wages are not subject to the employer portion of social security tax

As mentioned, you can claim the paid sick leave credit on the Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns, Form 941 for wages, qualified health care expenses and eligible medicare tax by reducing federal employment tax deposits. Be sure to maintain records and documents pertaining to the leave and copies of the form 941. If needed, you may also claim an advanced credit by filing IRS form 7200. For more information, attached is a one pager with additional information on the leave credits and you can find a IRS FAQ on the topic here. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to our office at (559)455-9272.

Note: If you have received the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) you cannot claim the credit for the same wages.

Due to a combination of a Valley-wide high-wind blowing dust event and ongoing smoke impacts from wildfires burning across the region, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (District) is experiencing highly elevated particulate matter exceedances today, September 8, 2020, with continued high-wind impacts extending into tomorrow, September 9, 2020. As they have in the past, the Air District is asking for the assistance of the agricultural community in responding to this issue by refraining from conducting any dust generating activities that can feasibly be delayed until after the event has subsided. Thank you for your assistance as the Air District attempts to mitigate the impacts from this exceptional event. For more information, contact the District’s Public Outreach Office at (559-230-6000).

Earlier this week, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released their Grant Proposal Solicitation Package for comments.  This grant proposal program is aimed at providing financial assistance to Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA’s) for projects that service critically overdrafted basins.  In the initial round of funding, DWR has made available $26 million dollars for GSA’s Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP).  DWR also plans on a second round of funding being made available in 2022, and expect the funding pool to be $62 million dollars for projects in high and medium priority basins throughout the state.  DWR will be holding a public webinar on September 3^rd, 2020 at 10 AM to discuss the grant proposal, and solicit comments from any interested stakeholders.  Attendees can submit public comments during the webinar, and DWR is also accepting comments on the proposed grant document until September 18^th.  Please email comments to Kelley List at  SGWP@water.ca.gov.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Pink Bollworm Program has released its report for monitoring Silverleaf Whitefly. The program monitored for whitefly and other cotton pests from August 10, 2020 to August 21, 2020. For the full report, please click here.

With less than six (6) days to go, the California State Legislature is attempting a “gut and amend” which would impose a $2.5 billion surcharge on electric ratepayers at an amount of $0.005 per kWh through the year 2051. For our members, that equates to $7,000 to $20,000 in additional annual electricity cost depending upon usage! The legislation begins with talking about the more than 500 wildfires this year, yet they admit they were caused by lightning. Nothing in this bill can or will stop lightning from occurring. Furthermore, the more than $2.5 billion raised by this surcharge on our members will be used for things like $50 million for the Air Resources Board to find alternatives for pile burning, $200 million for forest restoration, $300 million to Strategic Growth Council for cooling centers and backup solar power, and $50 million to restore flows in the San Joaquin River. Where’s the connection to lightning caused fires? Association President/CEO Roger Isom stated “It is unacceptable in a year like 2020 to think it is okay to levy $2.5 billion in taxes on the very ratepayers who are keeping Californians employed during this pandemic. Adding $7,000 to $20,000 in annual electricity bills to the businesses in California, who already pay the highest electricity rates in the country, is simply unacceptable. To use these funds for projects like restoring flows in the San Joaquin River, cooling centers and pile burning under the guise of reducing fire risk is inexplicable.” We urge every one of our representatives to oppose yet another tax increase and vote NO on AB 1659.

Wildfires continue to burn throughout California – be sure to protect your outdoor workers by following the Protection from Wildfire Smoke regulation §5141.1:
– Monitor the Air Quality Index, airnow.gov enter your location and the current AQI will be listed
– AQI of 151 or greater is unhealthy for general population. When AQI is for PM2.5 is 151 or greater, employers must provide respirators to all employees for voluntary use in accordance with §5144
– 1Respiratory protection such as disposable respirators – for voluntary use – to filter out fine particles, respirators must be labeled N-95, N99, N-100, R-95, P-95, P-99 or P-100 and must be labeled with NIOSH approval.
o Encourage employees to use respirators.
o Bandanas, t-shirt, surgical masks will not provide protection against wildfire smoke.
– Train employees on wildfire smoke hazards, health effects of wildfire smoke, the right to obtain medical treatment, how employees can access current AQI for PM2.5, communicate with employee of harmful air quality, protections available and how to use respirators using section 5141.1 Appendix B.
– Implement modifications to the workplace, if feasible, to reduce exposure.
– Implement changes to work procedures, if practicable, to work schedules.

1Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the N95s and other filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) are in limited or zero supply, the Association is working with a statewide coalition to convince the state to allow for alternative masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For additional information, please contact our office www.agprocessors.org or (559) 455-9272.

Last month, the County Agricultural Commissioners (CAC), the CAC’s began to distribute no-cost N-95 masks to pesticide applicators. However, with the recent wildfires and shortage supply of N-95 masks, the CAC’s will now be distributing a limited supply of no-cost N-95 masks throughout the state to agricultural businesses for worker protection from wildfire smoke. The limited supply of N-95 masks will be at no cost to you. Contact your local county agricultural commissioner to schedule a pickup time to receive these N-95 masks for your business.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Pink Bollworm Program has released its report for monitoring Silverleaf Whitefly. The program monitored for whitefly and other cotton pests from July 27, 2020 to August 7, 2020. For the full report, please click here.