Restaurant owners can now receive a tax credit to offset the cost of paid leave for employees to get vaccinated against COVID.
The tax credit also covers the cost of paid time off for employees to recover from any vaccination side effects, President Biden announced Wednesday.
The incentive applies to all businesses with fewer than 500 employees and covers up to $511 per day of paid sick leave between April 1 and September 30, the White House said. The credit covers up to 10 work days.
“Providing paid time off for vaccinations is an investment in the safety, productivity and health of an employer’s own workforce and their community,” the White House said in a statement. “No working person in this country should lose a single dollar from their paycheck to take time to get the shot or recover from it.”
The tax credit is part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan stimulus package signed into law by Biden in March.
In a speech Wednesday, Biden said the U.S. is on track to administer 200 million COVID vaccinations since he took office in January. On Monday, all U.S. residents over the age of 16 became eligible for the vaccine.
A number of restaurant chains had previously offered incentives for workers to get vaccinated. Unit-level employees of Beef ‘O’ Brady’s and The Brass Tap are eligible for a $100 vaccination bonus, for example. And chains including Noodles & Company have offered paid time off for employee vaccinations.
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