• Hospitals, healthcare, long-term care, retirement homes, hospice, and other healthcare-providing establishments and the emergency responder community.
• The Food and Agriculture Sector (as well as the other Critical Infrastructure Sectors), including food manufacturers/producers, suppliers of agricultural inputs and facilities that store, process and/or market agricultural products, grocery stores, food retail, food service, and food storage and distribution.
• Food and Agriculture Sector entities should follow guidance provided in the Federal Emergency Management Agency fact sheet, entitled Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Addressing PPE Needs in Non-Healthcare Setting, when considering their PPE requirements. All efforts should be made to identify alternatives to medical-grade PPE (such as N95 respirators), disinfectants, and/or sanitation supplies critically needed by the Healthcare and Public Health and Emergency Services sectors. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) information may be helpful when assessing appropriate PPE. 

• Continue working with normal and alternate private-sector suppliers to obtain PPE, cloth face coverings, disinfectants, and sanitation supplies. It may be necessary to identify multiple options for suppliers and prioritize near-term versus long-term needs.
• If suppliers are unable to provide for your needs, and the PPE and/or cloth face coverings are urgently required, submit a request for assistance to your state emergency management agencies. If the state is unable to address the PPE and/or cloth face covering shortfall, the state should submit a request for support to their FEMA Regional Response Coordination Center.

• Specific types, quantities (include 30-, 60- and 90-day demand), and locations where PPE is needed.
• Estimated time until the shortage impacts operations based on PPE burn rate; and
• Consequence of the shortage on the supply of food, agricultural commodities or agricultural inputs, and anticipated duration of its impact.

• Comply with worker safety and health laws, regulations or guidance (including those issued by OSHA).
• Abide by Federal, State, and Local requirements or recommendations to ensure food safety or evolving consumer/employee confidence guidance for COVID-19.

• Identify themselves as members of one of the critical infrastructure sectors, specifically the Food and Agriculture Sector.
• Include a copy of this document, which reflects both the scarcity of, and need for, PPE, cloth face coverings, disinfectants and/or sanitation supplies within the Food and Agriculture Sector.

1. All essential workers can receive the rebuttable presumption. Labor’s original proposal would have allowed all workers (not just essential workers) to get benefits.
2. Employers can use the lowest standard (ordinary presumption) to rebut the rebuttable presumption. An employer simply has to show that they were following CDC or IDPH guidance and practices. Labor’s proposal sought to impose a “clear and convincing” standard that was included in the Governor’s rules.
3. The employer’s experience modification will not change due to COVID.
4. A home or residence is not the workplace.
5. The presumption ends of December 31, 2020. Labor originally sought no end date.
6. Employers receive a TTD offset for employees that were on paid leave or extended FMLA.
7. The employee has to have been exposed and contracted the virus. Simple exposure does not qualify. Labor’s proposal, and the Governor’s rules, did not even require an employee to show that they had contracted the virus.
8. Before June 15, an employee has to have a positive diagnosis or medical test; on or after June 16, a positive test is required. Again, the Governor’s rules and labor’s proposal did not require a positive diagnosis or test to get benefits.

1. Employers will not be charged for layoffs between March 15, 2020, and December 31, 2020. These costs will be socialized in the system.
2. Illinois will receive $2.1 billion in matching federal dollars to pay for the extended benefits (seven weeks) that kick in when the state’s unemployment rate reaches a certain level.
3. Illinois will receive $20 million in federal money to pay for administrative costs at the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
4. Non-instructional educational employees (custodians, bus drivers, etc) that work for school districts (not private companies) will receive unemployment insurance benefits if they are not paid over a 12-month period of time. These are employees who typically take second jobs in the summer and may not be able to find short-term employment this summer. The federal government will fund half of the cost equating to $210 million.
5. Illinois will engage in another unemployment insurance agreed bill process in coming years. Typically, both sides agree to a series of tax hikes and benefit cuts that force both sides to the negotiating table. These “speed bumps” are set at $500 million for both sides in this agreement. Since the 1980s, these “speed bumps” have never become law because both sides reach agreement.
6. Business and labor agreed to cooperate on efforts to obtain additional federal assistance to help resolve the coming Trust Fund deficit. Illinois’ previous record deficit was $3 billion so the coming debt could significantly surpass that total.
7. Eliminated a $50 million “chit” that employers owed to labor from the last agreed bill process because of the significant savings that employers received when the misconduct rules were amended to make it easier to deny benefits for workers who were terminated for misconduct.

• Testing for COVID-19 must be covered by private health insurance, including cost-sharing like co-pays for office, urgent care, and emergency department visits under the FFCRA and CARES.
• Individuals with private insurance who have been tested for COVID-19 and subsequently received a bill to cover associated costs like the office visit or handling costs should speak to their insurer about having those services covered without cost-sharing. Wisconsinites can also file a complaint with OCI online complaint here or by calling 1-800-236-8517.
• Any office visit during which a provider determines a COVID-19 test is needed and orders a test must also be covered by most insurers without cost-sharing.
• Enacted in March 2020, the FFCRA and CARES Act together require many private insurance plans to cover COVID-19 testing and related services, including office visits (both in-person and telehealth), urgent care visits, and emergency department visits that are related to diagnostic testing for COVID-19. Both acts also collectively require those insurers to provide these services at no cost to those they insure. The CARES Act specifically expanded the range of COVID-19 diagnostic services that must be covered and requires any COVID-19 vaccine to be covered at no cost to consumers.
• Federal requirements regarding testing include most health insurers. Specifically, these federal requirements apply to plans that are fully insured or self-funded plans, non-federal, governmental plans, and church plans. Individual and group health insurance plans offered through and outside of the federal Marketplace as well as grandfathered and transitional health plans must also meet these requirements.
• More information can be found in the complete notice to insurers here. Insurers with questions about the FFRA and Cares Act are encouraged to consult this Frequently Asked Questions resource from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or the federal guidance issued by CMS and the Departments of Labor and the Treasury.