A new sick leave mandate, which first applied in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other large California cities, is now in effect at workplaces statewide.
The increased amount of sick leave available will have practical implications for how employers handle staffing, Proskauer senior counsel Philippe Lebel said in an email response to the Northern California Record. Under the new law, known as SB616, employees will be able to accumulate almost double the amount of paid sick days in many parts of the state.
“The most significant change to California’s statewide sick leave law by SB616 is that it increases the minimum amount of sick leave time eligible employees must accrue each year from 24 hours to 40 hours,” Lebel said. “SB 616 increases the permissible annual usage cap from 24 hours (or three days) to 40 hours (or five days). It also significantly increases the permissible sick leave accrual cap from 48 hours (or six days) to 80 hours (or 10 days)."
“It is important to note that although these changes will have a potentially significant impact on employers outside of California’s large metropolitan population centers — where there are no local sick leave ordinances — employers in Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area have already had to contend with very generous local sick leave ordinances,” Lebel said. “Thus, the new changes to the state-wide sick leave law may not significantly impact those employers to the same degree.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 616, which was sponsored by the California Labor Federation, SEIU, and other unions, late in the legislative session.
Business groups raised concerns about enforcement, as noted in the Senate Analysis: “A recent California Court of Appeals decision holds that PAGA (Private Attorneys General Act) applies to paid sick leave claims. This opens up businesses of every size to threats of litigation for significant penalties over any disputes.”
Under the controversial Private Attorneys General Act, workers and trial lawyers are empowered to stand in place of state labor officials in suing employers over alleged labor law violations, and can demand employers be made to pay penalties. Critics have noted the law has harmed businesses and generated big money for trial lawyers, while they allege it has generated relatively little benefit for workers.
In terms of compliance, Lebel noted employers should examine their existing sick leave policies and practices as soon as possible to ensure that any accrual and/or rollover caps are adjusted to reflect the new requirements in SB 616.
“Employers with employees outside of Los Angeles, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area will be significantly more impacted by the changes in California’s sick leave law,” Lebel said.
Failing to comply with the new requirements could result in liability, and sick leave violations can serve as the predicate to a representative action under the PAGA law, Lebel said.
“In recent years, we have seen a number of PAGA actions that include claims based on purported sick leave compliance errors," Lebel said.
As for concerns about fine print details, the new requirements appear fairly straightforward, Lebel said.
“Fortunately, there are not many 'traps' in the changes that will take effect once SB 616 becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2024,” Lebel said. “The overall structure of the state-wide sick leave law largely was preserved.”