SB 881

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law, with certain exceptions, entitles an employee to paid sick days for certain purposes if the employee works in California for the same employer for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment. Existing law requires the leave to be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked, and to be available for use beginning on the 90th day of employment. Existing law authorizes an employer to use a different accrual method as long as an employee has no less than 24 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 120th calendar day of employment or each calendar year, or in each 12-month period. Existing law also provides that an employer may satisfy the accrual requirements by providing not less than 24 hours or 3 days of paid sick leave that is available to the employee to use by the completion of the employee's 120th calendar day of employment. Under existing law, an employer has no obligation under these provisions to allow an employee's total accrual of paid sick leave to exceed 48 hours or 6 days, provided that an employee's rights to accrue and use paid sick leave are not otherwise limited, as specified. Under existing law, sick leave carries over to the following year of employment, but an employer is permitted to limit the use of the carryover amount, in each year of employment, calendar year, or 12-month period, to 24 hours or 3 days. This bill would modify the employer's alternate sick leave accrual method to require that an employee have no less than 40 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 200th calendar day of employment or each calendar year, or in each 12-month period. The bill would modify that satisfaction provision to authorize an employer to satisfy accrual requirements by providing not less than 40 hours or 5 days of paid sick leave that is available to the employee to use by the completion of the employee's 200th calendar day of employment. The bill would also provide that an employer is under no obligation to allow an employee's total accrual of paid sick leave to exceed 80 hours or 10 days, as specified. The bill would raise the employer's authorized limitation on the employee's use of carryover sick leave to 40 hours or 5 days. Under existing law, an employer is not required to provide additional paid sick leave days if the employer has a paid leave policy or paid time off policy that provided paid sick leave or paid time off to a class of employees before January 1, 2015, and the employee was eligible to earn at least 3 days or 24 hours of sick leave or paid time off within 9 months of employment. This bill would instead provide that an employer is not required to provide additional paid sick leave days in the above circumstances if the employer provided paid sick leave or paid time off to a class of employees before January 1, 2024, and the employee was eligible to earn at least 5 days or 40 hours of sick leave or paid time off within 9 months of employment, subject to certain conditions. Existing law requires paid sick leave for nonexempt employees to be calculated in the same manner as the regular rate of pay for the workweek in which the employee uses paid sick time, as specified. This bill would instead require paid sick leave for nonexempt employees to be paid at the employee's base rate of pay. The bill would also authorize an employer to request an employee, if an employee uses paid sick leave, to provide a written statement indicating that the employee was absent from work for a specified reason, and in certain cases, to provide written documentation regarding the leave. The bill would provide that an employer is not in violation of these provisions if the employer denies leave based on a determination that the verification or documentation is false. Existing law establishes that providers of in-home supportive services accrue sick leave in accordance with a schedule that is based on the timeline for state minimum wage increases, up to a maximum of 24 hours or 3 days when the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour. This bill would amend the schedule for in-home supportive services providers to increase the sick leave accrual maximum to 40 hours or 5 days in each year of employment, beginning January 1, 2026. The bill would also provide that, on or after January 1, 2024, a county, city, or municipality shall not adopt an ordinance, resolution, law, rule, or regulation, or amend an ordinance, resolution, law, rule, or regulation regarding paid sick leave, other than related to COVID-19-specific paid leave. The bill would provide that these sick leave provisions would preempt any existing local ordinance, resolution, law, rule, or regulation regarding earned sick leave, excluding local ordinances regarding COVID-19-specific sick leave and local ordinances enacted before January 1, 2023, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to enforce the above provisions governing paid sick leave, including by investigating an alleged violation, and ordering appropriate temporary relief to mitigate the violation, issuing a citation, and filing a civil action. The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 authorizes an aggrieved employee who complies with specified notice and filing requirements to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. This bill would provide that the paid sick leave provisions are not enforceable by an action under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities and counties, including charter cities and counties.