All Clear on California’s New Paid Sick Leave Law
California’s paid sick leave law went into effect on July 1, 2015. Governor Jerry Brown has now signed AB 304, which provides clarification on key several points of the law.
Alternative accrual rates that employers can use have been detailed. Specifically, employers are permitted to continue using policies that already provided paid sick leave or paid time off to a class of employees before January 1, 2015, that used an accrual method different than providing one hour per 30 hours worked, provided:
- The accrual is on a regular basis so that an employee earns no less than one day or eight hours of paid time off within three months of employment of each calendar year, or each 12-month period; and,
- The employee was eligible to earn at least three days or 24 hours of sick leave or paid time off within nine months of employment.
Additionally the bill clarified that:
- The employee must have worked in California for the same employer for 30 or more days within the previous 12 months in order to qualify for accrued sick leave.
- Employers with “unlimited” sick leave policies are under no obligation to inquire whether a day off is due to sickness.
