SB 616 Increases California paid sick leave requirement from 3 to 5 days

The legislature substantially increased the amount of paid sick leave required by California law.  The new law (which takes effect on January 1, 2024) preserves the existing accrual rate under California’s paid sick leave law (one hour accrued for every 30 hours worked).  However, employers may use a different accrual method as long as eligible employees accrue (a) no less than 24 hours (or 3 days) of paid sick leave by the end of their 120th day of employment, or (b) no less than 40 hours (or 5 days) of paid sick leave by the end of their 200th day of employment.

Current law permits employers to cap annual sick leave usage to 24 hours or 3 days per year, but SB 616 expands the permissible annual cap to 40 hours or 5 days.

SB 616 also raises the total amount of paid sick leave that an employee may accrue from one year to the next from 48 hours (or 6 days) to 80 hours (or 10 days).

Employers that prefer to “front load” employee sick leave must now provide employees with 40 hours (or 5 days) of paid sick leave per year.  This is a long overdue basic paid leave entitlement for California workers.

Note that SB 616 maintains the collective bargaining agreement exception to California’s paid sick leave requirement where certain conditions exist.  However, SB 616 extends some provisions of California’s paid sick leave law to non-construction industry employees represented by a union.  The new law provides even those non-construction employees excluded from the law with certain basic protections: the right to use accrued sick leave to care for themselves or their family members for each of the reasons provided by law; a prohibition on an employer requiring employees to find their own replacement worker; and a prohibition on retaliation or discrimination for using sick leave.

Unions can demand to bargain over any impacts of this new law.

For more information, contact your labor law counsel.