On August 30, 2014, the Governor signed Assembly Bill 1152 into law and said “tonight, the Legislature took historic action to help hardworking Californians. This bill guarantees that millions of workers — from Eureka to San Diego — won’t lose their jobs or pay just because they get sick.”

The new law is called the “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act.”  Beginning on July 1, 2015, both public and private employers (of any size) will be required to provide eligible employees with paid sick leave “at the rate of not less than one hour per every 30 hours worked.” Eligible employees are those employees who have worked 30 or more days within a year after their date of hire.  Under the new law, exempt employees are deemed to work a 40 hour workweek.  Employees are to be compensated at the same wage as the employee normally earns during regular work hours.  The rate of pay shall be the employee’s hourly wage.  If the employee in the 90 days of employment before taking accrued sick leave had different hourly pay rates, was paid by commission or piece rate, or was a nonexempt salaried employee, then the rate of pay shall be calculated by dividing the employee’s total wages (not including overtime premium pay) by the employee’s total hours worked in the full pay periods of the prior 90 days of employment.

There are a few exceptions in which employers are not required to offer the new paid sick leave benefit and they relate mainly to employees who are covered under a collective bargaining agreement, or who work in the construction industry, the home healthcare industry, or the airline industry.

Click here to read the full article.