The 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 FAQs were updated to reflect changes made by Senate Bill (SB) 1105, which expanded the reasons that agricultural employees may use paid sick leave.

Victim of a Crime

The Labor Commissioner revised the FAQ to comply with amendments to paid sick leave by Assembly Bill (AB 2499) pertaining to time off for victims of qualifying acts of violence.

Accrual versus Carryover versus Use

The FAQ 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 versus Partially Exempt Employees

The FAQ now clarifies the difference between employees who are fully exempt from paid sick leave requirements and employees who are partially exempt.

In the FAQ it 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 at least equivalent to the requirements of paid sick leave
  • Retired annuitants working for governmental entities
  • Employees of railroads
  • Employees in the construction industry are covered by a collective bargaining agreement with specific provisions.

Employees partially exempt from the paid sick leave law include employees covered by a qualifying collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with specified provisions.

For the collective bargaining agreement to partially exempt an employer, the agreement must expressly provide for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of employees, and 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 rate of pay of not less than 30 percent more than the state minimum wage rate.

If you have questions on the updated Labor Commission FAQs or related issues, contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.