Posted on January 15th, 2018
Getting sick is a part of life. But when you own a business and employees get sick you still need to figure out how to keep your business running smoothly. And you also need to understand California’s sick leave requirements and laws.
Got an employee who missed their flu shot? The California sick leave law makes sure they aren’t short a paycheck for it and tt also sets the guidelines for you as the employer.
And if you don’t follow these requirements? There could be a stiff price to pay – up to $4,000 in awarded back pay, damages, and penalties, to be exact.
How does the sick leave law work, and how does it apply to you? Keep reading to find out.
Making Sense of the California Sick Leave Law
Let’s start at the beginning. What is the California sick leave law?
What Is It?
To put it as simple as possible, the law makes sure your employees get a paycheck for their paid sick time. The idea is that the law promotes a healthier workforce, which is good for everyone’s bottom line.
The law, called the Healthy Workplace Families Act, was established in 2014. Under the law, any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within the first year of employment is entitled to sick leave. This includes part-time and temporary workers.
How Much Sick Leave?
Employees earn at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, starting on the first day of employment. The paid leave is equivalent to the employee’s rate of pay.
Now, if that sick leave isn’t used, it must be carried over to the following year, capped at 48 hours.
If your employee no longer works for you (due to retirement, resignation or termination) you are not required to pay out the unused sick time. But if you rehire that same employee within one year, their previously unused sick time is reinstated.
Which Employers Does Sick Leave Laws Impact?
The short answer? Everyone.
Even if you already offer paid time off.
Let’s get clear about a few things, though. If you already had a PTO plan, and it met the minimum number of sick leave days, you are not required to offer more sick time.
On the other hand, if your pre-existing PTO plan was more favorable to employees than the minimum required by law, that plan can also stay in place.
Basically? If you meet the minimum, you’re good to go.
What Are Your Obligations As the Employer?
That said, you do have a few obligations under the California sick leave law.
- You must display a poster on paid sick leave where employees can easily read it
- At the time of hire, you must provide written notice of your sick leave policy
- You must provide for accrual for each eligible employee
- You must provide sick leave upon request
- You must show how many sick leave hours an employee has available
- You must keep records of earned and used sick leave hours for three years
In short, it’s all pretty simple.
Your employees need to have access to the state policy and your business policy if they were to look for it, and you need to provide the accrued sick hours when requested.
A Few Frequently Asked Questions
Is all of this sounding a little to easy?
Don’t get too cozy – You know you own a business in California right? I’m sure you know by now how tricky this states labor laws are.
So here are a few questions we anticipate you may have and it’s good to know what the answers so you don’t get busted for noncompliance with the California sick leave law.
Here are a few common questions.
How Much Sick Leave Can an Employee Take?
You’ve got two options.
The first is to offer employees a lump sum of sick leave hours at the beginning of the year. Do the math first, because it still needs to meet the minimum requirements under the law. For a lump sum, you need to offer at least three days (24 hours) at the start of the year.
The second is to offer accrual based on hours. Here you can either use the model provided by the law (one sick leave hour for every 30 worked) or keep your own model if it meets the minimum requirements.
How Do I Report Sick Leave?
If you do pay stubs (which you should be doing anyway) then it’s a lot simpler than you think.
Employers are required to display the number of available sick hours on an employee’s pay stub, or on a document issued with the employee’s paycheck.
What Are the Exemptions?
As a general rule, not many.
Remember earlier when we mentioned that the law applies to part-time and temporary workers as well as full-time employees? That includes part-time workers who worked overtime, seasonal employees, contractors and employees of staffing agencies.
That said, there are a few exemptions. These include:
- Some airline cabin crew and aviation employees
- Construction workers and other employees covered under a collective bargaining agreement
- In-Home Support Services (IHSS) employees
If you’re not sure, it’s generally correct to assume that your employees aren’t exempt – in most cases, they aren’t. That said, it’s good to know the details of the bill anyway, just in case you do have an exempt employee.
How is the Year Measured?
Because paid sick leave first took effect on July 1, 2015, or the first day of employment if you were hired after July 1, 2015, the way of measuring the actual year varies.
As an employer, you’re fine to use your own employee anniversary date as the measurement of a year.
Can I Provide Less Sick Leave?
Nope.
The law will only affect your sick leave policy if you didn’t already meet the minimum requirement for sick leave, or if your preexisting policy covered full-time employees but not part-time employees or seasonal workers.
You can always provide more – businesses that offer unlimited sick leave can keep their policy. They will, however, be required to track it, though this can be done by indicating “unlimited” on your employee’s pay stub or a document sent with the pay stub.
I’m Still Feeling Lost, Help!
Pause. Sit back. Take a deep breath. Then head on over to our California sick leave laws cheatsheet to break everything down further.
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