These California state workers are eligible for new state sick leave
California state workers who are excluded from federal sick leave are now eligible for two weeks’ worth of supplemental sick leave from the state, according to the Human Resources Department.
The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act extended two weeks of paid sick leave and 10 weeks of partial paid family leave to workers affected by the coronavirus. The act, which took effect April 1, allowed employers to exclude health care and emergency workers.
Several state departments excluded broad swaths of workers, ranging from firefighters and law enforcement officers to anyone who works at prisons and many of those who work at state hospitals and parks.
Under a bill passed by the California Legislature, those workers are now eligible for 80 hours of paid sick leave if they’re affected by the coronavirus, CalHR announced this week.
Workers are eligible for the leave if they meet the following conditions, according to the department’s announcement:
The employee is subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
The employee is advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine or self-isolate due to concerns related to COVID-19; or
The employee is prohibited from working by the covered worker’s hiring entity due to health concerns related to the potential transmission of COVID-19.
The announcement comes as the virus is surging at several prisons and around the state – health officials reported 20,759 new lab-confirmed cases Wednesday.
The new leave will be paid at state workers’ regular rate of pay — not factoring in the pay cuts that are in place for most state workers through next year. The new leave has an effective date of Sept. 19, according to the announcement.
The leave is available immediately “upon the oral or written request of the employee to the department,” the announcement says.
The leave will be applied retroactively for any health care or emergency workers who have taken administrative time off due to the coronavirus since March 4, the announcement says.
Like the federal leave, the new state leave expires Dec. 31, unless the expanded federal leave is extended. In that case, the leave state leave would be extended for the same amount of time as the federal leave, according to the announcement.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 11:31 AM with the headline "These California state workers are eligible for new state sick leave."