©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2025 Cal-Peculiarities | 41 The California PSL law covers virtually all employees (including part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees) who work in California for the same employer for 30 or more days within a year.139 Rate of accrual. Covered employees must accrue no less than one hour of PSL for every 30 hours worked.140 An employer may use a different accrual method so long as the accrual is on a regular basis that gives employees no less than 24 hours of PSL or paid time off by the 120th calendar day of employment (and each 12-month period thereafter), and no less than 40 hours of accrued PSL or paid time off by the 200th calendar day of employment (and each 12 month period thereafter).141 The accrual rate for exempt employees is based on a presumed 40-hour workweek, except that an exempt employee whose normal workweek is less than 40 hours accrues PSL based on that employee’s normal workweek.142 Employees must be permitted to carry over all accrued, unused PSL to the following year, but employers may cap the accrual of PSL at 80 hours or ten days (whichever is greater).143 As an alternative to the accrual method, employers may “lump grant” the greater of 40 hours or five days of PSL upon hire and at the beginning of each year thereafter.144 The law does not require an employer to provide additional paid sick days if (1) the employer has an existing paid leave or PTO policy, (2) the employer makes the paid leave available under the same conditions as stated in the law, and (3) the existing policy either (a) satisfies the accrual, carry-over, and use requirements of the law or (b) provided PSL or paid time off to a class of employees before 2015, pursuant to a PSL policy or a PTO policy that used an accrual method different than providing one hour per 30 hours worked, so long as the accrual was on a regular basis so that an employee has no less than one day or eight hours of PSL or paid time off within three months of employment of each calendar year, or each 12-month period, and the employee was eligible to earn at least five days or 40 hours of PSL or paid time off within six months of employment.145 Employers can limit use of PSL to 40 hours or five days (whichever is greater) during each year of employment.146 Employers may set a reasonable minimum increment, not to exceed two hours, for an employee’s use of PSL.147 Permitted uses of PSL. Although employees begin accruing PSL on the first day of their employment, employers may implement a 90-day waiting period before employees can use their accrued and available PSL, after which they are eligible to use PSL as it accrues (or their full lump grant).148 Employees may use PSL not only for their own illness, diagnosis, treatment, or preventive care,149 but also to care for an ill child (regardless of age or dependency status), parent (which is broadly defined and includes, among others, parents-in-law), spouse or registered domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, and as of January 1, 2023, a “designated person”.150 (An employee may identify a “designated person” at the time the employee requests the PSL; employers may limit an employee to one “designated person” per 12-month period.) Additionally, employees who are victims, or whose family members are victims, of qualifying acts of violence as defined by California Government Code section 12945.8(j)(5), may use PSL to seek aid, treatment, or related assistance.151 A “qualifying act of violence” is defined as a conduct, or patterns of conduct, that justify safe time, including when: (1) an individual causes bodily injury or death to another individual; (2) an individual exhibits, draws, brandishes, or uses a firearm, or other dangerous weapon, with respect to another individual; and (3) an individual uses, or makes a reasonably perceived or actual threat to use, force against another individual to cause physical injury or death.152 Employees may also use PSL when serving a jury duty, or if they are a victim taking time off to appear as a witness in court in compliance with a subpoena or court order.153
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