1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Essential Pay for Essential Workers Act . 2. Mandatory essential pay for health care employees during public health emergencies (a) Employer requirement During an emergency period, an employer of an essential employee shall pay the employee at a rate equal to the sum of the regular rate of pay of the employee and $15. (b) Enforcement A violation of subsection (a) shall be deemed a violation of section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 206 ) and unpaid amounts shall be treated as unpaid overtime compensation for the purposes of sections 15 and 16 of such Act ( 29 U.S.C. 215 and 216). (c) Definitions In this Act: (1) FLSA terms The terms employer and employ have the meanings given the terms in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 203 ). (2) Essential The term essential employee means an employee identified as an essential critical infrastructure worker in the memorandum entitled, Advisory Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID–19 Response issued by the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency on March 28, 2020, or a successor memorandum. (3) Emergency period The term emergency period has the meaning given such term in section 1135(g) of the Social Security Act. (4) Regular rate The term regular rate has the meaning given the term in section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( 29 U.S.C. 207 ). 3. Payroll credit for certain mandatory essential pay (a) In general In the case of an employer, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by section 3111(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for each calendar quarter an amount equal to 100 percent of the qualified essential pay wages paid by such employer with respect to such calendar quarter. (b) Limitations and refundability (1) Credit limited to certain employment taxes The credit allowed by subsection (a) with respect to any calendar quarter shall not exceed the tax imposed by section 3111(a)