What Are the Sick Time Laws in California?

Does California provide paid sick leave?

California employers are obligated to provide their employees with paid sick leave (PSL) for a minimum of 3 workdays, or twenty-four hours, annually, provided that the worker has accrued the time as per the California Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act, which went into effect in 2015. This requirement was raised to 5 workdays or forty hours of paid sick leave (whichever is more) as of January 1, 2024.

Although the revisions to the Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act that SB 616 introduced seem to have been fairly simple in theory, putting them into action has been an enormous challenge.

Approaches to Determining Paid Sick Leave

Employers in California have three primary options when it comes to paid sick leave:

The “upfront” or “lump sum” approach is when a company pays an employee for all of their sick days in advance, which is 40 hours’ worth of time off. After waiting 90 days, the employee is free to take advantage of it whenever they like during the year. You will forfeit any unused sick days at year’s end. As a result of this strategy, many workers end up missing work at the end of the year due to illness. There are also no caps or carryovers with this method. It is the easiest for workers to understand.

The statutory accrual or “one-for-thirty” system allows workers to build up their sick leave throughout the course of their work, with each 30 hours worked resulting in one hour of sick leave. Employers may limit an employee’s usage of sick leave to forty hours or 5 days annually, and the accrual is currently restricted to 80 hours or 10 days. It is necessary to carry over unused time to the following year. After the first 90 days, the employee is free to use their sick leave at their discretion, regardless of how much time they have accrued.

The alternative or regular accrual approach gives businesses greater leeway to devise their own systems for keeping track of time. But they have to make sure that workers get twenty-four hours of sick leave by the 120th day of the year and forty hours by the 200th day, per this regulation.

There is an additional approach, which is known as the grandfather plan. In light of the fact that the regulations governing this strategy have become more complicated this year, employers who use a grandfathered plan should consult with their lawyer.

Benchmarks

The PSL statute creates some ambiguity by establishing several standards for time accumulation.

The “regular” (“alternative accrual”) technique requires the completion of benchmark days, but the “one for 30” (“statutory accrual”) system does not.

Part-Time Workers

How to determine sick leave for part-time workers is another area of uncertainty for some companies.

Companies are required to provide their workers with at least forty hours or 5 days of paid sick leave per year under the “lump sum” and “regular” accrual methods.

However, businesses do not need to promise these hours under the “one for 30” strategy.

Assuming an individual works an hour every week, it will take them thirty weeks to earn one hour of sick leave using the ‘one for thirty’ technique. And you know what? It’s perfectly legal, even though the person will only have 2 hours of sick leave per year.

Confusion around the Lump Sum Approach

One of the most commonly asked questions about the lump-sum approach concerns when employees can receive their lump sum of paid sick leave. For instance, some companies choose to pay the lump sum on the anniversary of the employee’s first day of work. With the most recent expansion taking effect on the first of January, what happens now?

A frequently asked questions document from the Labor Commissioner offers two choices:

A company that wishes to continue using the anniversary date method must provide its workers with an additional two days off, or sixteen hours, on January 1, 2024. When the worker’s anniversary date comes around, any time that wasn’t used is forfeited, and the worker gets a new 5-day lump sum. Also, managers should remember that the new limit is 5 days, not 3 days or 24 hours as it was in 2023.

Additionally, businesses have the option to reset all employees’ anniversary dates to January 1st if they so wish. So, starting on New Year’s Eve 2023, a company would take money out of everyone’s bank accounts and put 5 days’ worth of money back into their accounts on New Year’s Day 2024. From then on, the reload would occur on January 1 rather than the employee’s anniversary date.

Changes to Accrual Procedures

So, can a company switch their paid sick leave accrual method?

While the PSL statute does not expressly forbid employers from using a different accrual system, it also does not provide any guidance on how companies should go about doing so. Employers that intend to change their strategy should first seek the advice of legal counsel to be safe.

If you’re planning to make some changes, you probably don’t want to become the subject of a major lawsuit. Therefore, you should prevent anybody from missing out on a benefit to which they were legally entitled. Do not risk taking away paid sick leave days that would put you in legal hot water. It is also possible that you may end up paying out more sick leave during the switch-over.

Required Notices and Doctors’ Notes

Posting an up-to-date sick leave poster is a requirement for employers under SB 616. As of January 1, when the new law went into effect, companies were required to notify their employees of the change in their sick leave plan within seven days per Section 2810.5 of the Labor Code.

There may be no need for employers to provide a notice if they currently comply with a local regulation or provide more paid sick leave days than what is required under SB 616. Only when a company’s PSL policy has been modified is the 2810.5 notice needed.

Companies should revise their employee handbook policies regarding sick leave as well. Along with making the necessary adjustments, they should promptly communicate them to their staff and get their signed acknowledgment.

SB 616 says that when a worker takes California Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act leave, their boss can’t ask for a note from their doctor. According to a recently published FAQ by the Labor Commissioner, if an employer has evidence that a worker is not legitimately using their paid sick leave, they may request documentation.

Let’s imagine an example where an employee requests a trip to Hawaii next week and you say no, citing work commitments. Guess who doesn’t show up to work next week? The employee calls out sick for the week, only to post pictures on Instagram of him surfing in Oahu. This is where asking for a doctor’s note becomes appropriate. Otherwise, you aren’t allowed to ask for one.