As long as the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees at the end of this eight week period matches the number of FTE you had before (either calculated an average monthly FTEs during Feb-Jun 2019 or average monthly FTEs in Jan + Feb 2020), your loan will be forgiven. It can also be partially forgiven in proportion to your reduction in FTEs.
This phrasing is ambiguous as to what would happen to loan forgiveness if a firm increased the number of full-time employees during the loan period.
A friend’s firm asked me about this so I poked into it a bit. Having done that, I’m ~80% sure that increasing headcount during the loan period wouldn’t affect loan forgiveness.
In General.—The amount of loan forgiveness under this section shall be reduced, but not increased, by multiplying the amount described in subsection (b) by the quotient obtained by dividing—
the average number of full-time equivalent employees per month employed by the eligible recipient during the period beginning on February 15, 2019 and ending on June 30, 2019; or
the average number of full-time equivalent employees per month employed by the eligible recipient during the period beginning on January 1, 2020 and ending on February 29, 2020;
(Formatting isn’t perfect because legal formatting doesn’t play nice with EA Forum formatting.)
This phrasing is ambiguous as to what would happen to loan forgiveness if a firm increased the number of full-time employees during the loan period.
A friend’s firm asked me about this so I poked into it a bit. Having done that, I’m ~80% sure that increasing headcount during the loan period wouldn’t affect loan forgiveness.
From the statute text:
(Formatting isn’t perfect because legal formatting doesn’t play nice with EA Forum formatting.)
Yes, it is correct that increasing headcount will not affect loan forgiveness.