COVID sick leave revived by state
Both houses of the California Legislature passed measures Monday that would revive paid supplementary COVID-19 sick leave that expired last year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the legislation, which would be retroactive to the beginning of the year. Labor groups had pressed Newsom and the Legislature to resurrect the measure, which was allowed to expire at the end of September when federal tax credits for businesses providing the leave expired.
The measure would take effect 10 days after Newsom signs it. It would stay in effect until Sept. 30 and would apply to businesses with more than 25 employees.
“Today’s passage of COVID paid sick leave is an important victory for frontline workers and families across the state,” said California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski in a statement. “Paid sick leave is one of the most potent weapons we have in the arsenal to slow the spread and protect workers and the public.”
The expanded leave measures passed 55-7 in the Assembly and 30-7 in the Senate.
The measure saw some pushback, including in the Assembly.
“There are significant unintended consequences to this bill,” said Assembly Member Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, ahead of the vote Monday. He said it created an unforeseen expense for many small businesses and nonprofits that are “barely holding on by the skin of their teeth,” and criticized the lack of tax breaks for businesses to help them pay for it.
“My concern about this is we’re asking these individual enterprises to shoulder the bill,” said Sen. Andreas Borgeas, R-Fresno, ahead of the Senate vote.
Assembly Member Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said he hoped to see the issue of small business relief addressed in the June budget proposal.
Full-time employees and those working an average of 40 hours per week the two weeks before they take the additional leave are eligible for the full 40 hours of paid supplemental leave. Non fulltime employees are also eligible for the leave based on the number of hours they normally work.
An additional week of paid time off is also available under the measure for a person who shows a positive test for themselves or a loved one they are taking care of.
That is a change from last year when employees were entitled to up to two weeks of paid supplemental COVID sick leave.
Many business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, had not opposed bringing the additional sick leave back, but advocated for it to be less expansive than the initial automatic 80 hours of leave.
The supplemental leave is in addition to the minimum of three days a year required under California law and any other sick leave a person might accrue at work.
Workers can also be paid to stay home because of infection or exposure to COVID in some circumstances under temporary workplace rules established separately by the Cal/ OSHA Standards Board.
In a change from last year, employers can no longer require workers to exhaust their supplementary paid sick leave before being paid to stay home under the Cal/ OSHA rules.