UNDATED -- If you have been in quarantine due to coronavirus there is help on the way. Congress passed and President Trump has signed the "Families First Coronavirus Act".

Melinda Gau is an attorney with Quinlivan & Hughes in St. Cloud. She says the legislation extends the "Family and Medical Leave Act" to many more employees. She says there are lots of eligibility requirements, so your first course of action should be to check with your own employer.

Basically, it provides paid leave for up to 14 days, and that could be extended longer if need be.

There is good news for employes that are definitely affected because of a diagnosis are being quarantined,  having to care for someone who is quarantined, or even caring for a child because schools are closed or daycare facilities are closed.

But, you should be patient with your employer as everyone figures out the details.

The employees may have been using their PTO until now, and now they have to go back and figure out putting that back into their PTO bank or how this works.  Please be patient with your employers, everybody is trying to do what's best.

Gau says if you've been temporarily laid off because your company is closed you can file for unemployment benefits from the state. Typically benefits are around 60 percent of what your normal salary would be.

There is also some relief through the state for small business owners that have been forced to close due to COVID-19.

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