California Legislature Proposes Law That Would Mandate Paid Sick Leave

The California Legislature has proposed AB 2716, the “Healthy Families, Healthy Workplace Act of 2008.” If passed, this Act would mandate that all employers, regardless of size, provide some form of paid sick leave benefits to all employees who work in California for seven or more days in a calendar year.

Under the proposed legislation, employees accrue no less than one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked.  The employee is entitled to use accrued paid sick time beginning the 90^th day of employment. Moreover, paid sick time shall be carried over from year to year.

Under this proposed legislation, paid sick leave can be used for the diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition, or preventive care for, an employee or the employee’s family member. The paid leave can also be used for leave related to domestic violence or sexual assault.

The employer cannot require the employee to find a replacement worker to “cover” the time the employee takes off pursuant to this proposed legislation, nor can the employer take any action against the employee for taking the time off.

There are two aspects to this proposed legislation that do provide some consideration for employers.  First, employers may limit employees’ use to 72 hours (or nine days) each calendar year.

Second, even though the paid sick time does accrue from year to year, the proposed legislation expressly states that employers are not required to pay employees for accrued, but unused, paid sick time when their employment ceases. The only exception to this is that if an employee separates from employment and is rehired by the same employer within one year, previously accrued, unused paid sick leave must be reinstated.

The proposed legislation also includes various paperwork, notice, and recordkeeping requirements, and amends other employment-related laws to incorporate this legislation.