Some of my employees have already taken 3 sick days this year but their pay stubs show that they still have sick hours available. Why is that? Do I have to give them additional paid sick time?
The short answer is “not necessarily.” First, let’s look at how California state-mandated paid sick leave works. As a California employer, you have two options for offering paid sick leave to your employees:
- Upfront method – Each employee gets 3 sick days (minimum 24 hours) upfront at the beginning of each plan year. Whatever is not used during the plan year is lost and does not carry over into the subsequent plan year.
- Accrued method – Each employee accrues 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours of work. The employee can have an unused sick balance of up to 6 days (minimum 48 hours), but usage can be limited to no less than 3 days or 24 hours per plan year. Unused sick leave carries over into the subsequent plan year, with a maximum carryover of 6 days.
If you are using the accrued method and you limit usage to 3 days per plan year, it is possible for your employee to have used 3 sick days in the plan year and still have an available balance of 6 days. Here’s how:
Suppose John is hired on January 1st, 2019 as a full-time employee who works 8 hours per day. He accrues 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours of work, does not take any sick days in 2019, and has 48 sick hours accrued on December 31st, 2019. On January 1st, 2020, John begins a new sick benefit plan year, and he carries over the 48 hours into the new plan year. Because John is at the cap of 48 hours, he will not accrue any more sick leave until his balance is reduced. On February 1st, 2020, John falls ill and has to use 3 sick days to recover. Now John’s balance is 24 hours, and he has used the maximum of 3 days for the current plan year. John will begin to accrue sick leave again, at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours of work, but he will not be able to use any more sick leave for the remainder of the plan year. By August 31st, 2020, John’s balance is back to 48 hours. He will not accrue any more sick time for the remainder of the year, and cannot use any more sick time. His pay stub will show that he has taken 3 days but still has 6 days remaining. Those remaining 6 days will carryover on January 1st, 2021.
Now let’s go back to the original question: John has already taken 3 sick days but his pay stub shows that he still has sick hours available, so does his employer have to give him additional paid sick time? The short answer is “not necessarily,” because ultimately it depends on the location of John’s work. If John is subject, based on his work location, to the California state sick leave mandates, then his employer does not need to pay him for any additional sick time. However, if John works in a locality that has its own sick leave mandates, such as Pasadena or Los Angeles, he may be able to accrue more than 6 days and use more than 3 days per plan year.
Please keep in mind that with California sick leave, an employee is entitled to no less than 24 hours of sick leave per plan year. If a part-time employee works only 6 hours a day, he/she/they must still be given 24 hours of sick leave per plan year. If an employee works 10 hours per day, then he/she/they must be given 30 hours of sick leave per plan year.
