COVID-19
Paid Sick Leave Expansion BY: JAMIE M. BOSSUAT, ESQ. KROLOFF, BELCHER, SMART, PERRY & CHRISTOPHERSON
Many employers have questions about when to provide paid COVID-19 sick leave to employees. There are four laws that potentially provide coverage paid COVID-19 related leave for many California employers: California’s paid sick leave law, the Health Workplaces Healthy Families Act, the American Rescue Plan of 2021 which expanded the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, and Cal/OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standards pertaining to COVID-19. The Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act provides three days or 24 hours of paid sick leave for nearly all employees who work in California for 30 days or more for the same employer. The law provides for paid sick leave for prevention
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SAN JOAQUIN PHYSICIAN
or treatment of the employee’s own health condition or that of a family member. This includes a COVID-19 illness, quarantine order, or isolation period. The California Labor Commissioner has taken the position that using paid sick leave for COVID-19 related reasons is at the employee’s election. On March 29, 2021, California’s COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave law became effective. The law provides up to 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave for employees working for businesses with more than 25 employees. The new law is retroactive, providing this leave from January 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021. A new poster is required and can be downloaded from the Labor Commissioner’s website.
SUMMER 2021
