How much paid sick leave am I entitled to take and be paid for?
It depends on what kind of plan your employer chooses to offer in order to comply with the new law. Some employers already have paid time off or sick leave policies that meet the requirements of the new law, and for employees who are covered by those existing plans, the amount of sick leave you are entitled to take will not change. In general terms, the law requires employers to provide and allow employees to use at least 24 hours or three days of paid sick leave per year.
Employers adopting new policies to comply with the law may choose whether to have an “accrual” policy or a “no accrual/up front” policy.
Accrual Paid Sick Leave
An accrual policy is one where employees earn sick leave over time, with the accrued time carrying over in each year of employment. In general terms (and subject to some exceptions), employees under an accrual plan must earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for each 30 hours of work (the 1:30 schedule). Although employers may adopt or keep other types of accrual schedules, the schedule must result in an employee having at least 24 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 120th calendar day of employment.
Although employees may accrue more than three days of paid sick leave under the one hour for every 30 hours worked (or under an alternative accrual standard) under an accrual method, the law allows employers to limit an employee’s use of paid sick leave to 24 hours or three days during a year. The law also allows an employer to limit an employee’s total accrued paid sick leave to no more than 48 hours or six days.
No Accrual Paid Sick Leave
A no accrual/up front policy makes the full amount of sick leave for the year available immediately at the beginning of a year-long period, except for initial hires where it must be available for use by the 120th day of employment. The employer must provide at least 24 hours or three days of paid sick leave per year and the full amount of this leave must be available for the employee’s use from the beginning of each year of employment, calendar year, or 12-month period.
Note: the employer determines how the year will be calculated, whether it tracks a typical calendar year, fiscal year, or other 12-month period). Under the up-front method, IHSS employees begin to be covered by the law on July 1, 2018 and may be limited to one day or eight hours initially until the minimum wage reaches $13.00 and to two days or twenty-four hours until the minimum wage reaches $15.00 per hour.
Grandfathered Paid Sick Leave
Lastly, the law allows certain types of existing sick leave policies to be “grandfathered,” if the policy was in existence prior to January 1, 2015. These policies are deemed to comply with the new law if:
- The accrual provides no less than one day or 8 hours of accrued paid sick leave or paid time off within three months of employment per year, and
- The employee was eligible to earn at least three days or 24 hours of paid sick leave or paid time off within 9 months of employment.
Any modification to a grandfathered sick leave or paid time off policy will nullify its qualification as a grandfathered policy and the employer will be required to comply with the requirements under the new law.
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