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Government Relations & Public Policy

Workers refusing to be rehired won’t impact PPP forgiveness

May 8, 2020

The Small Business Administration (SBA) provided relief to businesses trying to rehire employees that don’t want to come back.

Additional FAQs for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) released on May 3 clarify that employers will not be penalized if laid off employees decline to be rehired. The clarification will be added in the interim final rule.

PPP loans can be forgiven if employee levels are maintained and 75% of the loan proceeds are used for payroll costs. The amount of forgiveness is reduced if employee and salary levels aren’t maintained in the 8-week period after the business receives the loan. 

The FAQ further warned that “employees who reject offers of re-employment may forfeit eligibility for continued unemployment compensation.”

Excerpt from FAQ:

40. Question:  Will a borrower’s PPP loan forgiveness amount (pursuant to section 1106 of the CARES Act and SBA’s implementing rules and guidance) be reduced if the borrower laid off an employee, offered to rehire the same employee, but the employee declined the offer?

Answer: No. As an exercise of the Administrator’s and the Secretary’s authority under Section 1106(d)(6) of the CARES Act to prescribe regulations granting de minimis exemptions from the Act’s limits on loan forgiveness, SBA and Treasury intend to issue an interim final rule excluding laid-off employees whom the borrower offered to rehire (for the same salary/wages and same number of hours) from the CARES Act’s loan forgiveness reduction calculation. The interim final rule will specify that, to qualify for this exception, the borrower must have made a good faith, written offer of rehire, and the employee’s rejection of that offer must be documented by the borrower. Employees and employers should be aware that employees who reject offers of re-employment may forfeit eligibility for continued unemployment compensation.