California’s passage of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 implemented new law that required employers to provide employees working over 30 days to start accruing paid sick leave starting July 1st, 2015. Simple as it seems, this new law left employers and employees with several questions.
The California Legislature responded last week when it issued “clean up” legislation to clarify some of the confusion. Here is what you need to know:
- To qualify for sick pay, the employee must work 30 days for the same employer.
- Employers with “unlimited” sick leave or a paid time off policy should indicate “unlimited” on the employees’ wage statements.
- Employers that do not want to use the accrual method for providing sick leave can satisfy their requirement by providing 24 hours at the beginning of each year of employment, calendar year, or 12-month period.
Keeping these three points in mind, employers are encouraged to insure that their sick leave policies comply with California’s paid sick leave law.
