Important Changes to California Sick Leave

California’s Legislature has passed Senate Bill 616 (SB 616), amending California’s paid sick leave law.  The bill was signed by California Governor, Gavin Newsom on October 4, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

What does this mean for California Employers?
All California employers should review their paid sick leave policies to ensure compliance with the new requirements. Here are some notable changes to the state law:

Increased Annual Paid Sick Leave - Under current California paid sick leave rules the "full amount of leave" an employee must be allowed to accrue within a calendar year, or 12 month period is defined as 3 days or 24 hours. Under SB 616 that amount is increased to 5 days or 40 hours.

Alternative Accrual Methods - The current law requires paid sick leave to be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked and to be available for use by the 90th calendar day of employment. Alternate methods of accrual can be used as long as employees have access to no less than 3 days or 24 hours of paid sick leave by the employee's 120th calendar day of employment. The provisions under SB 616 will continue to allow alternative accrual methods and schedules but add that employees must also have access to 5 days or 40 hours of paid sick leave by the employee's 200th calendar day of employment.

Increased Accrual Cap and Carryover - Under the current law an employer is not required to allow their employee's total accrued hours of paid sick leave to exceed 48 hours or 6 days. The new law will increase the accrual threshold to 80 hours or 10 days. However, if paid sick leave is not accrued but instead the "full amount of leave" is awarded to an employee upfront each year of employment or 12-month period, then no carryover is required.

Redcort Software does not issue or attempt to provide legal advice. We attempt to keep our customers up-to-date with potential changes to state and federal labor rules as we become aware of them. Our desire is to raise awareness as to how such issues may affect the use of Virtual TimeClock for employee time tracking.

We recommend employers review the provisions found in Senate Bill 616 and consult an HR specialist about this important change. Virtual TimeClock has an easy and convenient method for updating and adjusting leave awards. If you have any questions or need assistance feel free to contact us through our technical support form. We're here to help!