Posted on April 7th, 2020
Below is a transcript of this video.
Speaker 1: (00:01)
Oh, speaking of my second favorite politician and, and, California, Garcetti. So Carsine you were saying earlier about a very particular, uh, order that he had put out recently that you thought was a little bit conflicting and confusing and difficult to deal with.
Speaker 2: (00:20)
Yeah, the guy said he can not get these executive directives out fast enough. It seemed like last night, last week he was signing a new one every day. So we were just monitoring his website, just trying to keep up.
And sometimes, you know, I was calling his office like, where is the order? You’re talking about it, you’re referencing it and we don’t even have the text to analyze yet.
So there’s a lot of lag time and so on. Um, but anyway, they issued a, it’s a proposed order for additional sick pay for the city of LA.
I think your clients who are in the city of LA probably already know there’s, with the increased minimum wage ordinance, there was also mandatory sick leave ordinance.
We know minimum wage is going up to $15 this July 1st. And also there’s mandatory 48 hours of earned paid sick leave to all employees within the city of Los Angeles, which they earn over time and can use, you know, for usually for being sick.
Speaker 2: (01:27)
Uh, but the city of LA has a little bit more of an expansive definition and this is one of those places where the city has a very strict rule.
The County has a little bit broader and then there’s no federal rule on sick pay. And so the city’s rule, the strictest rule, if you’re operating within the geographic boundaries of the city and your employees are reporting to work there, then they can earn, you know, an hour of sick time for every 30 days worked.
And so they’re earning all that up. And then let’s say they have any of the qualifying reasons to take leave, you have to pay them for that leave. So that includes preventive care, including going to go get your flu shot or you know, taking care of yourself.
Actually being sick, taking care of someone else who’s sick, including your family members, including grandparents, siblings, spouses, kids, domestic partners.
It’s pretty broad. And then for domestic violence reasons. So if you’re a victim of sexual assault docking, that kind of thing, you can use sick pay for any of that and the employer is required to provide 48 hours of that a year.
Speaker 1: (02:34)
Okay. So, with, with the new emergency plan,
Speaker 2: (02:38)
yeah. How does that affect, so the new emergency plan has not been approved yet or gone into effect. And I actually just saw a first draft of this thing today, but there, the city of LA is talking about adding 80 hours in addition to that, 48 hours for COBIT, 19 related reasons.
So it could expand the law, which already includes that eligibility to use sick leave for preventative care. So that’s kind of, you know, the issue there. They,
Speaker 1: (03:13)
so if I was an employee and I haven’t been laid off and I’m working, um, based on COBIT 19, I could say I want to take my 48 hours plus the additional 80 hours
Speaker 2: (03:27)
if the 80 hours passes. But for today, the 48 hours you, you would get paid that. So the 48 hours, even if it hasn’t been earned yet.
Well, so it’s up to the employer. You can loan it to your employee, even if they haven’t accrued it yet, it’s up to you. But most people will have earned it if they’ve worked more than, I don’t know how to do that math, but an hour for every 30 days for every 30 hours worked.
You’re going to earn it after a few months, you’ll have your 48 hours. So
Speaker 1: (03:58)
yeah. So if anybody has been working from the beginning of the year, then of course favor in that. Okay. So, so that’s not too bad, but if they add the 80 hours that that’s, um, yeah, that’s, that’s tough.
What about, um, what about some of the other things that they’ve put into places or anything that stands out as, as everyone should have this?
Speaker 2: (04:23)
Yes, because I didn’t know and just found out that there was an executive directive from the, I don’t know, it’s the city of LA, some wage agency. Um, and they have an order that’s out that says the city of LA earned sick leave.
You have to give it, you have to let employees use that 48 hours of sick leave for COBIT 19 related reasons. So that includes being subject to a quarantine or isolation order or if your kids are out of school because the school closed.
I know actually being sick is one of them actually taking care of someone who’s sick. So it’s pretty broad reasons and they’re saying that 48 hours has to go to that. So
Speaker 1: (05:13)
[inaudible] one of the interesting things, you told me this earlier, so, um, correct me if I’m misstating it, but Mmm. There’s no requirement for a doctor note nothing.
They could just say, Hey, I have a elderly parent that’s quarantined or [inaudible] or the doctors said they should be quarantined and I’m gonna take care of them. That was in the proposed ordinance. Okay. So that isn’t a part of what exists now.
Speaker 2: (05:38)
Right now, I cannot remember for the city of LA if you can have a doctor’s note or not, it’s coming to mind immediately that the city of San Diego geographic boundaries, you cannot ask for a doctor’s note for any reason, for any leave that you’re taking right now. And that was in the actual, uh, mayor’s directive. So just depends.
Speaker 1: (06:02)
So, uh, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about, uh, about potential lawsuits because they’re laying people off. And uh, so what, what in your opinion, what do you think the blow back is from all of these people getting, um, terminated, whether it’s furlough or laid off or whatever.
My opinion is is that, uh, as soon as this thing blows over and the money runs out, it’s going to be labor board claims or [inaudible] claims or whatever else. Cause I could imagine, um, uh, someone that I don’t know the retaliation for example, which is very popular right now, I could imagine somebody complained about something and then the company laid everybody off or laid a bunch of people off.
And then you can go back now and say, you know what I’m talking about months from now where, Oh well I was laid off but it was but I was a whistleblower. Or uh,
Speaker 2: (07:00)
I mean it’s unfortunate, but that seems to always be the case that that certain opportunistic employees will use that as, you know, I was retaliated against and they’ll use their one particular circumstance and you know, cherry pick different quotes that people said and make themselves a case that happens across the board.
We see that in litigation. But this is no different. I mean there’s just so many opportunities because wage and hour claims, sick pay, you know, you have to calculate the hourly sick pay on the regular rate of pay. So that means there’s a look-back period. And of course the look back on what the average amount you were making weekly is different federally as it is to the city.
And then you have to include commissions and tips and everything. So who’s doing the math on this? You’re off by a penny and then you know, you forget to put a comma on the pay stub.
There’s just so many technical violations you could slip up on that in a time where every law is changing on a daily basis. It’s almost guaranteed that employers are going to have to defend some actions.
Speaker 1: (08:10)
Well, you know where I think, um, and I’m recommending to all my clients, uh, how to figure this out, but where I think the majority of the claims are going to come from our work at home who then claim that they didn’t get their lunch breaks, they worked over time.
Cause you know, you, you work from nine to five, but then you send an email at six 15 at that, that’s OT right there, right?
So what I’m recommending is the old paper system, you know, the old write down your hours, write down any overtime submitted.
You know, there’s, there’s sheets you can find online anywhere, uh, and then have them sign date and turn it in. And if you see that they’ve worked overtime that they weren’t supposed to, then that’s an, you still have to pay them for it. But that’s something that you can, um, uh, then counsel them for.
Speaker 1: (09:02)
So at least to some record, um, I think there’s going to be a lot of that cause people aren’t even thinking like that.
Hey, I worked all day from home and I didn’t get my lunch break. I didn’t get my 10 minute break. And as adults we were thinking, yeah, get up and take your break. Not there to supervise you.
Why should I? But that’s not the point. The point is not that they couldn’t have done it. The point is that you didn’t, you didn’t make sure that they did it and if you didn’t make sure that you, that they did it, you’re on the hook for it.
So I, that’s, that’s my opinion. I think you should have everything documented, forced them for, to use some sort of reporting, um, uh, procedure.
I don’t know if you have it electronic, but I would do paper. I think that’s the safest and easiest because then they’re hand signing and hand dating. I have not been [inaudible]. Yeah, which is the best thing.
