5 Things Employers Need to Know About 2022’s New COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law

SB-114 resembles the COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave law that expired in September 2021, which we wrote about here, but it contains notable differences. Similar to the 2021 law, SB-114 covers employers with 26 or more employees, applies retroactively to January 1, 2022, and expires on September 30, 2022. As under the former law, employers may cap supplemental paid leave at $511 per day and $5,110 in total for each employee. Employers should update their itemized wage statements to insert a separate line item that discloses the amount of SPSL that employees used through the pay period in which it was due to be paid. Alternatively, employers may develop a separate writing that provides this same information as long as it is provided to employees on the designated pay date with the employees’ payment of wages. Finally, the Labor Commissioner recognizes that it may be reasonable under certain circumstances to ask for documentation before paying the sick leave when the employer has information indicating that the covered employee is not requesting SPSL for a valid reason. An example of such reasonable circumstances, as stated in the FAQs, is the situation where a covered employee tells an employer that he or she has to stay home due to a local quarantine order or recommendation, but the employer subsequently learns that the covered employee was out at a ballpark.

Labor Code Section 247.5 requires that records be kept for a three-year period regarding 2022 SPSL days accrued and used, and that the records be made available to the labor commissioner or the employee upon request. The second bank is available for covered employees, or family members for whom they are caring, who have tested positive for COVID-19. The test can be an antigen over-the-counter rapid test or a test taken at a testing facility, as the new law does not specify the type of test and does not place conditions on how the test must be administered in order to qualify for leave. Alifornia could soon extend its COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave through the end of 2022 and provide relief to small businesses incurring the costs of such leave if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill sent to his desk on Aug. 31.

Overview of Paid Sick Leave Refundable Credit (Updated January 28,

A statement that because of the COVID-19 related reason, the employee is unable to work or telework. If the person subject to quarantine or advised to self-quarantine is not the employee, that person’s name and relation to the employee. “We have provided information to the individuals to ensure they understand how the law works… and recommended they reach out to an attorney who can assist them in evaluating their particular situation and any potential options for recourse,” said a spokesperson for the administration.

The information on this blog is published “AS IS” and is not guaranteed to be complete, accurate, and or up-to-date. Foley https://business-accounting.net/ makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the operation or content of the site.

Wage Statement Notice of 2022 SPSL Balance

While every effort has been made to ensure that the material on FederalRegister.gov is accurately displayed, consistent with the official SGML-based PDF version on govinfo.gov, those relying on it for legal research should verify their results against an official edition of the Federal Register. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not provide legal notice to the public or judicial notice to the courts. May be eligible for state extended unemployment benefits during sustained high levels of unemployment in the state. Please refer to the information below, and ourFAQs to help understand your rights and use the program that best fits your situation – applying for the wrong program could cause delays. Federal laws that expandedUnemployment Insurance benefitsto more workers expired September 4, 2021.

• David McKenna with Greater Boston Legal Services said he has heard from dozens of employees whose employers won’t honor the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Program.
• Employees who are teleworking for COVID-19 related reasons must be compensated for all hours actually worked and which the Employer knew or should have known were worked by the Employee.
• While the governor and legislative leaders have talked up tax credits being part of the agreement to bring back SPSL, the referenced tax credits are not directly tied to SPSL, nor do they provide “dollar for dollar” reimbursement like under the federal FFCRA.
• In accordance with its existing collective bargaining obligations, an Employer signatory to a multiemployer collective bargaining agreement may satisfy its obligations to provide Expanded Family and Medical Leave by making contributions to a multiemployer fund, plan, or other program.
• An employee may not receive more than 100% of his or her regular weekly wages in a week.
• Expanded FML is not available when an employee has exhausted FML leave for the current leave year.

Setting hours of paid sick leave “equal to the average number of hours that the employee was scheduled per day,” as section 5110 requires, would violate the requirement under section 5102 that “hours of paid sick time to which an employee is entitled shall be . Equal to the number of hours that such employee works, on average, over a 2-week period” for the obvious reason that a day is different from a two-week period.

Is there an Employee Notice Requirement?

Without this paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave (that is, without the policy of tying some federal COVID-19 assistance to employment arrangements), there could be long-term costs in addition to the short term impacts listed above. For example, there could be substantial rehiring costs for employers when the public health concern has abated and, simultaneously, transition costs to workers as they restart their careers. A spillover effect of these frictions might be increased reliance on social assistance programs.

• Employers are permitted to require that leave be used in increments (e.g., 15 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) but may not set the minimum increment at more than 4 hours.
• This estimate may not, however, include employees who provide services to the health care industry.
• The FFRCA should be read to complement—and not detract from—the work being done on the front lines to treat COVID-19 patients, prevent the spread of COVID-19, and simultaneously keep Americans safe and with access to essential services.
• Employers must notify employees in writing or by posting a notice in the worksite, prior to the leave being earned, of any restrictions in their leave policy affecting the employees’ use of leave, including any limitations on leave increments.

For example, if an Eligible Employee used his or her full FMLA leave entitlement for birth and bonding with a newborn, he or she would still be entitled to take Paid Sick Leave , but could not take Expanded Family and Medical Leave in the same twelve-month period if his or her child’s day care closed due to COVID-19 related reasons. Subject to § 826.60, after the initial two weeks of Expanded Family and Medical Leave, the Employer shall pay the Eligible Employee two-thirds of the Eligible Employee’s average regular rate, as computed under § 826.25, times the Eligible Employee’s scheduled number of hours for each day of such leave taken. But, in the absence of a written agreement, there must be a clear and mutual understanding between the parties that the employee may take intermittent paid sick leave or intermittent expanded family and medical leave, or both. Additionally, where an employer and employee agree that the latter may take paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave intermittently, they also must agree on the increments of time in which leave may be taken, as explained in subsections and .

An employee can provide the required information in any format, for example on the letterhead of the healthcare provider. Employers must accept a complete and sufficient certification, regardless of the format. A certification is considered “incomplete” if one or more of the applicable entries on the form have not been completed.

Such contributions must be based on the hours of Paid Sick Leave to which each Employee is entitled under the EPSLA according to each Employee’s work under the multi-employer collective bargaining agreement. Under the circumstances in of this section, the Eligible Employee may choose to substitute earned or accrued paid leave provided by the Employer during this period. The term substitute means that the preexisting paid leave provided by the Employer, which has been earned Who qualifies for coronavirus paid sick leave under new law? or accrued pursuant to established policies of the Employer, will run concurrently with the unpaid Expanded Family and Medical Leave. Accordingly, the Eligible Employee receives pay pursuant to the Employer’s preexisting paid leave policy during the period of otherwise unpaid Expanded Family and Medical Leave. For purposes of the UMRA, this rule includes a federal mandate that is expected to result in increased expenditures of more than $165 million in the first year.