California Legislature OKs paid sick leave expansion

SACRAMENTO >> The California Legislature on Thursday voted to expand paid sick leave for about 10.4 million workers, sending a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom that mandates up to two weeks of paid time off for things like having coronavirus symptoms, scheduling a COVID-19 vaccine or caring for a child who is doing school at home.

The bill, if it is signed into law, applies to companies with at least 25 employees. The rules would expire on Sept. 30, but are retroactive to Jan. 1. Some companies would have to pay their workers for time off they have already taken.

But many companies can get that money back from the federal government. Companies can get a payroll tax credit of up to $511 per day for each employee that takes the paid sick leave. The tax credit is enough to cover workers who make $60 an hour or less, according to Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner, the bill’s primary author.

But the credit is limited in some cases. It’s only $200 per day if the employee is taking time off to care for a family member. And the credit is only available to companies with fewer than 500 employees.

“The absolutely best way to contain the spread (of the virus), beyond the fact of wearing masks as we are and keeping our distance, is to ensure people who have COVID or who are asymptomatic with COVID are not going to work,” Skinner said.

While California has gotten billions of dollars in federal coronavirus aid in the past year, the state’s Democraticcontrolled Legislature has been providing its own economic stimulus in recent weeks. State lawmakers have OK’d more than $14.2 billion in aid for businesses, schools and individuals while redirecting some federal stimulus dollars to pay off unpaid rent for struggling tenants.

The money has come from a significant state surplus, estimated at about $15 billion, which will soon be augmented by an another $26 billion in federal aid.

But California’s small businesses have not fared as well while weathering multiple government- ordered shutdowns throughout the ups and downs of the pandemic. Small business revenue is down 29% since January 2020, while the number of small businesses open has fallen by more than 34%, according to data from Opportunity Insights, an economic tracker based at Harvard University.

That’s why many business groups opposed the law, calling it another costly burden for owners struggling to stay open.