As we anticipated, the proposed COVID-19 Supplemental Sick Leave Law has passed through the California Legislature and has been signed by the Governor. We reported on the main features of law earlier this week in an article which can be found here. This law takes effect immediately and will expire on September 30, 2022.
Most importantly, this supplemental sick leave law only applies to businesses with 26 or more employees. Employers with 25 or fewer employees do not have to comply with this law. For more information about the law and discussion on handling, refer to our previous article.
Please note that the new model poster we mention in our previous article is to be published by the Labor Commissioner’s Office next week, so keep an eye out for that. Also, we wanted to reiterate that if an employee was exposed at work and must be excluded, this law specifically does not allow employers to require such excluded employees to use this supplemental sick leave.
We would recommend that employers still keep track of all sick leave provided per this law in the off chance that the federal government may decide to provide some form of tax credit or other similar relief based directly on this supplemental sick leave. Though that is not currently the case, best to be as prepared as possible.
We also wanted to add that California has announced that it will be ending its statewide indoor mask requirement on February 15, 2022. Sacramento County and several other counties will be following suit. Regardless, all businesses should check to confirm that their counties do not have an indoor mask mandate or check what event mask mandates are in place before telling employees they do not need to mask anymore.
If you have questions about any of the above, please feel free to call, and the experts at the Employers’ Council will be happy to assist you.