The California Labor Commissioner’s Office recently published an updated version of its Frequently Asked Questions page for California Paid Sick Leave.
Here are some of the highlights of the updates.
Agricultural Employees
The FAQ page was updated to reflect changes made by Senate Bill 1105, which expanded the reasons that agricultural employees may use paid sick leave.
Victim of a Crime
The labor commissioner revised the FAQ page to comply with amendments to paid sick leave by Assembly Bill 2499 pertaining to time off for victims of qualifying acts of violence.
Accrual vs. Carryover vs. Use
The FAQ page, which is geared more toward employee use, added a section to clarify the difference between accrual, carryover, and use. This explanation is used because the law allows employees to accrue more time than an employer is required to allow an employee to use in a single year.
Fully Exempt vs. Partially Exempt Employees
The FAQ page clarifies the difference between employees who are fully exempt from paid sick leave requirements and employees who are partially exempt.
The FAQ states that the following employees are fully exempt from paid sick leave:
- Individuals employed by an air carrier as a flight deck or cabin crew member, if they receive compensated time off that is at least equivalent to the requirements of paid sick leave.
- Retired annuitants working for governmental entities.
- Employees of railroads.
- Employees in the construction industry who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with specific provisions.
Employees partially exempt from the paid sick leave law include employees covered by a qualifying CBA with specified provisions.
For the CBA to partially exempt an employer, the agreement must expressly provide for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of employees. It must also expressly provide for paid sick days or a paid leave or paid time off policy that permits the use of sick days for all employees, premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked, and a regular hourly pay rate of not less than 30% more than the state minimum wage rate.
Kurtis R. Urien is an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Irvine, Calif. © 2025 Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
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