San Diego Becomes 10th U.S. Jurisdiction to Enact Paid Sick Leave Law
Approximately 279,000 employees in San Diego will become eligible to start earning paid sick leave on April 1, 2015. The new measure is part of the Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance, which the San Diego City Council passed on August 18, 2014, after overriding the mayor’s veto of the law.
Employees will be able to begin accruing paid sick leave if they have worked at least two hours in San Diego. Starting on April 1 or the beginning of their employment, employees can earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked in the city. They can begin using their accrued hours after 90 days of employment.While the law does not define a cap to the number of hours that employees can accrue, employers can limit their use to 40 hours in one year. In addition, employees can carry up to 40 hours of sick leave over to the following year.
According to the law, an employee can use their accrued sick time in certain situations, including:
-
Medical treatment or other medical reasons
-
Care for a family member with an illness, injury or medical condition
-
Closure of the employee’s workplace or their child’s school due to a public health emergency
-
“Safe time” for activities related to incidents of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking
So what does this mean for employers in San Diego? Be sure to understand your rights and responsibilities before the new law goes into effect. The law requires employers to:
- Provide notice about sick leave rights to employees
- Give employees information about sick leave upon hire, in addition to information with the employer’s name, address and telephone number
- Keep records for at least three years documenting the wages their employees earn, as well as their accrued and used sick leave time
Note: employers who already offer paid sick leave equal to or more generous than the new law do not need to offer additional leave to their employees.
Following San Francisco, San Diego is the second city in California to enact a paid sick leave law. In fact, another California paid sick leave law is also currently under consideration - the “Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act of 2014,” which would provide employees throughout California with three days of paid sick leave. The statewide law will be decided by the California Legislature in the coming weeks.
About Presagia
Founded in 1987, Presagia has a long history of helping organizations solve complex business problems with easy-to-use solutions. Today, this means providing cloud-based absence management solutions that enable organizations to be more efficient, control lost time and risk, and strengthen compliance with federal, state and municipal leave and accommodation laws.