Starting July 1, 2015, virtually all California employers must offer paid sick leave to their employees, thanks to the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 ("HWHFA"), signed into law by Governor Brown as AB 1522.
Even if you have only one employee, working two hours a week, he or she will be entitled to an hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. To be eligible, an employee must work in California for 30 or more days within a year after being hired. Exempt employees are treated as working 40 hours per week for accrual purposes, unless their normal workweek is less than 40 hours.
There are very limited exceptions for certain collective bargaining agreements and "in-home supportive services" workers defined by statute, but other household workers like babysitters, cleaners and cooks are covered by the new rules.
Employers can cap the accrual of paid leave at 6 days (48 hours) per year, and can limit its use to three days (24 hours) per year, but all unused time carries forward indefinitely, which is new for sick leave in California. Employers do not have to pay out unused leave when an employee quits, is let go or retires, but if she returns within a year, all of her accrued and unused time must be reinstated.
Under the new law, paid sick leave can be used for the diagnosis, care or treatment of the employee or a family member (the list includes grandparents, grandchildren, siblings and the child of a registered domestic partner). Family members are no longer limited to half of the available sick leave, as they were under the California "Kin Care" law. Employers can delay the use of sick leave until the 90th day after hire, but it accrues from day one.
Paid leave under the new law can also be used by victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking (and by a family member of a victim) for purposes like getting counseling, moving or going to court.
Employers must put up new posters, track sick leave on pay stubs, keep three years' records of time earned and used, and cannot require an employee to find his own replacement when on leave. The Labor Commissioner will enforce the new rules, with potential fines in the thousands of dollars per violation.
There are two ways to bypass some of the new rules. For example, if you give employees three days of sick leave at the start of each year for the purposes stated in the law, then unused leave need not carry forward; and if the employer already offers either paid sick leave or PTO that meets the minimum requirements of the HWHFA for accrual, carry over and use, then that employer is already in compliance.
All employers should become familiar with the new rules before July 1, 2015, or have your employment lawyer's number handy… Your employee handbook should be reviewed as well.
Storrow can be reached at [email protected]
Even if you have only one employee, working two hours a week, he or she will be entitled to an hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. To be eligible, an employee must work in California for 30 or more days within a year after being hired. Exempt employees are treated as working 40 hours per week for accrual purposes, unless their normal workweek is less than 40 hours.
There are very limited exceptions for certain collective bargaining agreements and "in-home supportive services" workers defined by statute, but other household workers like babysitters, cleaners and cooks are covered by the new rules.
Employers can cap the accrual of paid leave at 6 days (48 hours) per year, and can limit its use to three days (24 hours) per year, but all unused time carries forward indefinitely, which is new for sick leave in California. Employers do not have to pay out unused leave when an employee quits, is let go or retires, but if she returns within a year, all of her accrued and unused time must be reinstated.
Under the new law, paid sick leave can be used for the diagnosis, care or treatment of the employee or a family member (the list includes grandparents, grandchildren, siblings and the child of a registered domestic partner). Family members are no longer limited to half of the available sick leave, as they were under the California "Kin Care" law. Employers can delay the use of sick leave until the 90th day after hire, but it accrues from day one.
Paid leave under the new law can also be used by victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking (and by a family member of a victim) for purposes like getting counseling, moving or going to court.
Employers must put up new posters, track sick leave on pay stubs, keep three years' records of time earned and used, and cannot require an employee to find his own replacement when on leave. The Labor Commissioner will enforce the new rules, with potential fines in the thousands of dollars per violation.
There are two ways to bypass some of the new rules. For example, if you give employees three days of sick leave at the start of each year for the purposes stated in the law, then unused leave need not carry forward; and if the employer already offers either paid sick leave or PTO that meets the minimum requirements of the HWHFA for accrual, carry over and use, then that employer is already in compliance.
All employers should become familiar with the new rules before July 1, 2015, or have your employment lawyer's number handy… Your employee handbook should be reviewed as well.
Storrow can be reached at [email protected]