Effective March 29, 2021, an eligible employee in California shall be entitled to receive COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave if the employee is unable to work or telework due to: 1.) COVID-19 quarantining or isolation ordered by a local, state, or federal agency; 2.) self-quarantining with the advice of a healthcare provider; 3.) attending an COVID-19 vaccine appointment or symptoms related to a COVID-19 vaccine; 4.) experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking medical diagnosis; 5.) caring for a family member who is COVID-19 quarantining; or 6.) caring for a child whose school or place of care is closed or otherwise unavailable because of COVID-19.
If an employer considers the employee to work full time, or the employee worked or was scheduled to work on average of at least 40 hours per week in the 2 weeks before the employee takes the leave, the employee is entitled to 80 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave. A part time employee would be entitled to COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave in the amount of 14 times the average number of daily hours the employee worked for the employer in the prior 6 months before taking the leave. A new part time employee who only worked for an employer 14 days or less before taking the leave is entitled to COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave equivalent to the total number of hours worked for the employer.
This paid leave is calculated at the employee’s regular rate of pay, but the rate cannot exceed $511 per day and $5,110 in total for all COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave hours or days taken. Also, employers must provide the paid leave to covered employees in addition to and separate from paid time off, paid vacation, or the 3 regular annual California paid sick days that employees may have. Further, an employer must allow a qualifying employee to use it and cannot require that employee to use other types of leave or time off instead.
Note however that employees of small businesses might not qualify for COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave because only employees who work for an employer of 26 or more employees can qualify. Employers with 25 or less employees are exempt. Finally, this new law applies retroactively back to January 1, 2021, meaning an employee can request the paid sick leave for the qualifying COVID-19 reasons for missed work going back as far as the start of this year; and this new COVID-19 supplemental paid leave is only available until September 30, 2021.
(See Link(s): SB-95; Labor Code Sections 248, 248.1, 248.2, 248.3)