California Enacts New COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Requirement
On September 9, 2020, California enacted Assembly Bill 1867, a supplemental paid sick leave law as part of the existing COVID-19 Emergency Leave provisions. This law is scheduled to take effect on September 19, 2020 and will be effective until the later of December 31, 2020 or the expiration of any extension of the Families First Coronavirus Act (FFCRA). This new law covers any employee who must leave their home to perform work and who is employed by a private employer with 500 or more employees nationwide. Essentially, employers who are not covered by FFCRA are covered by the California law.
All full-time employees in California will be entitled to up to 80 hours of paid sick leave, with pro-rated calculations for part-time employees or employees with variable work schedules (number of hours scheduled over a two-week schedule or 14 times the average daily hours worked for the past 6 months). Covered employees will be entitled to this supplemental paid sick leave if they are unable to work for any of the following reasons:
Subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
Advised by a healthcare provider to self-quarantine or self-isolate due to COVID-19 concerns; or
Prohibited from working by the employer due to health concerns regarding the potential transmission of COVID-19.
This supplemental paid sick leave must be provided in addition to other paid sick leave (with exceptions for voluntarily provided COVID-19 related leave) and employers cannot require that other leave be used before or in lieu of the supplemental paid sick leave. The supplemental paid sick leave may run concurrently with other paid leave except paid sick leave and employees will be able to determine how much leave they need to use. The employer must grant a request for leave upon the employee’s verbal or written request – a medical certification is not required to grant the leave. The pay will be the employee’s regular rate of pay not to exceed $511/day ($5,110 total per employee) and there is no pay out required upon termination.
Employers must post a notice of employees’ rights under this new law or make the notice available electronically for remote workers – a link to the required posting is provided below. Employers also must inform employees of their available leave balance each pay period starting after the law’s effective date.
For more details, visit this page https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ-for-PSL.html.
As this regulation is new and still developing, Encompass will continue to provide information and guidance as it becomes available. Please reach out to your Client Experience Manager with any questions.