California employers must begin providing paid sick leave on July 1, 2015. We’ve discussed what the law requires generally here and here.
The Department of Industrial Relations has listed these 6 steps for employers to successfully comply with the law:
- Display the paid sick leave poster where it’s accessible and have a paid sick leave policy.
- Give new hires written notice about the company’s paid sick leave policy.
- Provide for accrual of at least one hour of paid sick leave for 30 hours of work.
- Allow eligible employees to use paid sick leave upon request.
- Show employees how many hours of paid sick leave they have available either on the pay stub or a separate document issued the same day as the paycheck.
- Keep records showing how many hours employees have earned and used for three years.
Here’s a step they didn’t list! Employers must also notify existing employees of changes to how they handle paid sick leave. Newer employees should have received that information at the time of hire with their Wage Theft Protection Act notice. But everyone else should receive written notice, too. The DLSE provides a form for the notice here, which is also available in different languages on its website. Employers whose paid sick leave policy differs from the statutory minimum requirements will need to modify the form accordingly.
