California Expands Access to Virus-Related Leave to Year-End

California employees who were exposed to the new coronavirus or test positive for it have access to paid sick days for the rest of 2020 under a bill signed Sept. 9 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

The measure (A.B. 1867) took effect Sept. 9. However, a requirement to provide supplemental paid sick leave is to take effect 10 days after the measure is enacted for qualifying employers who are not already providing such leave under Executive Order N-51-20.

Executive Order N-51-20, which Newsom signed April 16, afforded workers in grocery stores and fast-food chains, along with delivery drivers, farm workers, and other agricultural workers access to two weeks of supplemental paid sick leave, but only while they are subject to a quarantine or stay-at-home order.

The provisions of A.B. 1867 apply retroactively to April 16 for those food-sector workers. Paid leave already provided to food-sector employees under Executive Order N-51-20 counts toward the requirement of A.B. 1867. Additionally, the supplemental paid sick leave that was provided only to food-sector workers under the executive order was expanded to apply to more workers under A.B. 1867.

Those working for private employers with at least 500 employees and those in specified health-care and emergency-response professions whose employers chose not to cover them under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act also are to have access to supplemental paid sick leave days under A.B. 1867.

The leave is to be used by those who are subject to a quarantine order, isolation order, or a medical directive because of Covid-19.

Workers who are employed full time or who worked or were scheduled to work at least 40 hours in each of the two weeks before the leave date are entitled to 80 hours of leave. The state provided calculations to determine how much leave is available for other workers who are not full time but who have a normal weekly schedule or a variable schedule.

The supplemental paid sick leave is to be paid at the greater of the worker’s regular rate, the state minimum wage, or the local minimum wage, up to a maximum of $511 a day and $5,110 in total. Payment for the leave must occur by the next regular payday that occurs after the leave is taken.

The requirement to provide virus-related supplemental paid sick leave expires the later of Dec. 31, 2020, or when any extension to the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s emergency paid sick leave elements expire.

Workers taking supplemental paid sick leave when the measure’s provisions expire are allowed to take the full amount of such leave to which they are entitled.

Employers that already provide supplemental benefits for the same reasons as its is provided under A.B. 1867, excluding certain paid sick leave, and that provide at least equivalent compensation may count the hours of the other paid benefit towards the total number of hours that the employer must provide to covered workers.

Similarly, employers that provided supplemental paid leave from March 4 to Sept. 9 but did not pay covered workers at least the amount required under A.B. 1867 may retroactively provide sufficient compensation to satisfy this measure’s pay requirements and apply those hours toward the total number of leave hours required by the measure.

Written notice indicating the amount of leave available must appear on an itemized wage statement or in separate writing provided on designated pay dates. Also, records documenting hours worked, leave provided, and leave used must be maintained for at least three years.

The labor commissioner must, within seven days after the measure is enacted, make available a model public notice regarding the supplemental paid sick leave that also may be provided electronically to covered workers who do not frequent the workplace. The labor commissioner also can cite workplaces for not offering paid sick days, under the bill.

Employers must not require covered workers to use any other paid or unpaid leave, paid time off, or vacation time before the supplemental paid sick leave becomes available.

Among the measure’s other requirements, food-industry workers must wash their hands at least every 30 minutes.