California Paid Sick Leave Legislation

December 9, 2014 by Sheila Sexton

The California Legislature recently passed a new law mandating that employers provide their employees with at least three (3) paid sick leave days per year.  The law will become effective July 1, 2015, and applies to all employers under the following conditions.

• Employees are entitled to paid sick leave once they have worked thirty (30) or more days within their first year of employment.
• Paid sick leave will be accrued at a rate of no less than one (1) hour for every thirty (30) hours worked.
• Employees will be entitled to use sick leave after their 90th day of employment.
• Employees are allowed to carry over any accrued paid sick days to the next year of employment.  If unused, however, an employee is not entitled to use any more than twenty-four (24) hours (or three (3) days) of their carried over paid sick leave in the following year.

The law does not require an employer to provide additional paid sick days if they have a paid leave policy or paid time off policy already in place, as long as the policy complies with the law regarding accrual, carry-over and use of the leave, and provided that the employee has at least twenty-four hours or three days of leave per year.

The law also does not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) as long as the CBA meets certain requirements. Specifically, the law does not apply to employees covered under a CBA that expressly provides for:  1) wages, hours of work, and working conditions of employees;  2) paid sick days, a paid leave or paid time off policy that permits the use of sick days for those employees; 3) final and binding arbitration of disputes concerning the application of its paid sick days provisions;  4) premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked;  and 5) a regular hourly rate of pay of not less than 30% more than the state minimum wage rate.

Another exception to the new sick leave statute is for employees in the construction industry covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement if the agreement expressly provides for all of the following employment conditions.

• Wages, hours of work, and working conditions of employees
• Premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked
• A regular hourly pay of not less than 30% more than the state minimum wage rate, and
• The agreement either:  (A) was entered into before January 1, 2015; or (B) expressly waives the requirements of this article in clear and unambiguous terms.

The attorneys at Beeson, Tayer and Bodine (BT&B) keep current on legislative matters concerning California Employment Law.  Please feel free to contact our law offices in Oakland or Sacramento if you have any questions or need further clarification.

 

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