44 | 2025 Cal-Peculiarities ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com can be applied against the employee’s sick leave balance. Rates of sick pay that have been deemed reasonable in a CBA remain so, even if the CBA does not explicitly waive or refer to the rates of pay section of the PSLO.175 The PSLO entitles employees to use accrued PSL as of the 90th day of employment. For rehired employees—if separated from the employer and rehired within one year—all previously accrued, unused PSL must be reinstated. For employees separated from an employer before the 90th day of employment and rehired within one year, the original period of employment counts toward the 90-day usage waiting period.176 For example, if an employee separates from an employer after working for 45 days, and then one month later is rehired, the employee must work another 45 days before the employer must permit the employee to use accrued PSL. San Francisco Public Health Emergency Leave. Going beyond the pre-existing generous PSLO, in 2020 San Francisco enacted the Public Health Emergency Leave Ordinance (PHELO).177 After repeatedly renewing the PHELO, San Francisco allowed it to expire in 2021, and then passed a permanent Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL) ordinance that, as of October 1, 2022, requires employers with 100 or more employees worldwide, with limited exceptions, to provide up to 80 hours of paid PHEL to San Francisco employees.178 PHEL may be used during a local or statewide health emergency related to a contagious, infectious, or communicable disease as declared by the City of San Francisco or California’s health officer, and certain vulnerable employees who primarily work outside are entitled to PHEL leave when the Bay Area Air Quality Management District issues a “Spare the Air” alert.179 All employees who work for a covered employer in San Francisco are entitled to PHEL, regardless of duration of employment or job title, including part-time, temporary, seasonal, and salaried employees. The only exception for otherwise covered employers is for employees subject to a collective bargaining agreement that expressly waives PHEL in clear and unambiguous terms. As of June 2, 2025, San Francisco has no active public health emergencies.180 However, employees must receive their PHEL allotment at the beginning of each calendar year, or the start of their employment, regardless of whether there is an ongoing public health emergency. Employers must provide notice of the amount of PHEL available to each employee on a wage statement or another writing. If the employer offers unlimited paid leave or paid time off, the employer must note “unlimited” on employees’ wage statements.181 Berkeley. Berkeley’s PSL ordinance became effective in 2017.182 This ordinance, like San Francisco’s, requires an accrual rate of one hour per 30 hours worked. Employers are covered regardless of location if they have employees who work two or more hours a week within Berkeley city limits. Small businesses (fewer than 25 employees) may cap accrual of paid sick leave at 48 hours as well as limit use of paid sick leave to 48 hours within a calendar year. Employers with 25 or more employees may cap accrual of paid sick leave at 72 hours but may not limit use of paid sick leave. As with the San Francisco ordinance, PSL begins to accrue at the time of hire, and can be used beginning on the 90th day of employment. Employers can front-load paid sick leave at the beginning of each year as long as employees can accrue additional leave after working enough hours to have accrued the amount that is front-loaded. Berkeley employees can add a designated person to the category of covered family members. After an initial use of one hour, sick time can be used in 15-minute increments. Sick leave need not be cashed out upon termination of employment, but sick leave must be restored if the employee is rehired within 12 months. Employers must, each pay period, report on a wage statement or other written notice how much paid sick leave time employees have accrued. Emeryville. Emeryville’s PSL ordinance183 is part of a minimum wage law, similar to the Oakland and City of Los Angeles ordinances discussed below. The Emeryville PSL ordinance covers employers regardless of location if their employees work at least two hours a week within Emeryville city limits. The basic entitlement is a maximum of 48 PSL hours for employees of small businesses (55 or fewer employees within Emeryville city limits) and 72 hours for employees of large businesses (56 or more employees within Emeryville city limits). Employers may establish a more generous cap or use no cap. In any given year, employees may use PSL up to the applicable
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