Cal-Peculiarities: How California Employment Law is Different 2022 Edition

©2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP  www.seyfarth.com 2022 Cal-Peculiarities | 49 ordinance technically expired on December 31, 2020, it was reenacted on January 6, 2021, and remained in effect through June 2021. 189 San Mateo County. On July 8, 2020, the first sick leave ordinance in San Mateo County became effective, requiring employers with 500 or more employees nationwide to provide employees in the unincorporated portions of the county with two weeks (up to 80 hours) of Covid-related leave for reasons largely similar to those covered under the FFCRA. The ordinance required that employees be paid their regular rate of pay for Covid-19 leave, subject to a $511 daily cap and $5,110 aggregate cap, regardless of the reason for use. 190 While the ordinance was originally scheduled to expire on December 31, 2020, on December 8, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors extended the ordinance to remain in place through June 2021. Santa Monica. Santa Monica’s PSL provisions took effect in 2017. 191 The Santa Monica ordinance excludes government employees and employees who are exempt from the state minimum wage laws. Santa Monica employees working at least two hours per week in the City and working for small businesses (having 25 or fewer employees) earned at least 32 hours of PSL in 2017 and 40 hours in 2018 and going forward. Employees in larger businesses (with at least 26 employees) earned at least 40 hours of PSL in 2017 and 72 hours starting in 2018. The accrual rate is one hour for every 30 hours worked, and employees carry over earned PSL each year up to the caps set by the employer (which can either mirror the caps above or be more generous). Employers can front-load PSL rather than have employees accrue PSL per hour, so long as the employer provides leave consistent with the required amounts. Other PSL designs are possible so long as they meet or exceed ordinance requirements. In terms of covered family members and reasons for use of PSL, and pay rate, Santa Monica follows state law. Santa Monica did not adopt Covid-related supplemental sick leave, but did informally remind employers that obligations to provide paid sick leave under the regular PSL provisions apply to Covid-related absences. 192 Santa Rosa. The City of Santa Rosa’s PSL law, effective July 7, 2020, requires employers not covered by the FFCRA in whole or part to provide two weeks (up to 80 hours for a full-time employee) of Covid-related leave. The rate of pay required when an employee takes that leave is the employee’s regular rate, subject to a $511 daily cap and $5,110 aggregate cap, regardless of the reason for use. The Santa Rosa Covid-19 leave mandate expired as of October 1, 2021. 193 The extension made clear that this is a one-time grant; paid sick leave used prior to the extension was not replenished. Sonoma County . Sonoma County’s first sick leave ordinance went into effect on August 18, 2020, requiring employers with 500 or more employees nationwide who are not covered under the FFCRA to provide most employees in the unincorporated portions of the County with two weeks (up to 80 hours) of Covid-19 leave, for reasons largely paralleling those covered under federal law. The rate of pay required when an employee took Covid-related leave under the County ordinance is the employee’s regular rate, subject to a $511 daily cap and $5,110 aggregate cap, regardless of the reason for use. The Sonoma County Covid-19 leave mandate originally expired on December 31, 2020. 194 On February 9, 2021, the Board of Supervisors passed an urgency ordinance that expanded coverage, amended, clarified, and extended the Covid-related paid sick leave into 2021. The ordinance, which has now expired,applied to all employers in the county’s unincorporated areas. The amendments confirm that the paid sick bank is a one-time benefit. While unused paid sick time from 2020 carried over into 2021, employers do not need to provide an additional, new bank of leave for 2021. The one-time allotment of paid sick leave was available to employees the ordinance already covered, and to employees covered by FFCRA who were excluded from coverage under the Sonoma ordinance in 2020. Paid sick leave provided to employees under all emergency paid sick leave programs—such as the Sonoma ordinance, the executive order for food-sector workers, the now-expired state-wide urgency legislation, the FFCRA, and