As an employee in California, you may not understand your eligibility to take sick leave at work. In short: California’s paid sick leave law entitles most employees who work in the state for 30 days or more to earn paid sick leave, typically accruing at one hour for every 30 hours worked, for use during your own illness or a family member’s illness, and your employer cannot legally force you onto unpaid sick time once you have paid sick leave available. So we created this page to help you understand your paid sick leave rights in California.
The Healthy Families Act of 2014 (Cal. Lab. Code § 245-249) requires all California employers, whether public or private, and regardless of size, to provide paid sick leave to their employees. In 2024, Senate Bill 616 amended the Act to raise the minimum paid sick leave employers must provide each year from 24 hours (3 days) to 40 hours (5 days), and to raise the maximum accrual cap from 48 hours to 80 hours. Unfortunately though, too many employers ignore these rights. If you are facing an issue with paid sick leave in California, Pimentel Law can help.
COVERED EMPLOYEES
Before you request paid sick leave in California though, it’s important to understand whether you are covered under the Healthy Families Act.
Paid sick leave applies to all California employees, except:
- Union employees who receive paid sick leave through their CBA
- Construction workers with a union contract
- Providers of in-home supportive services
- Most air carrier employees
- Public employees that receive retirement benefits
- Railroad carrier employees (excluded under Senate Bill 616, effective 2024)
All California employees, except those excluded above, who work more than 30 days are entitled to paid sick leave. However, they have no right to use their accrued paid sick days until their 90th day of employment. Paid sick days accrue at a rate of one hour per every 30 hours worked.
Under Senate Bill 616, effective January 1, 2024, employers must let employees use at least 40 hours or 5 days of paid sick leave each year of employment, whichever is greater, an increase from the previous minimum of 24 hours or 3 days.
Any unused sick leave accrued in the preceding year must be carried over to the following year. But the employer can now cap total accrued paid sick leave at 80 hours or 10 days, up from the previous 48-hour (6-day) cap.
Two Most Common Methods of Accrual:
- Accrual: For every 30 hours worked, the employee earns one hour of paid sick leave, and any unused sick leave must be carried over to the next year, up to the current 80-hour (10-day) accrual cap.
- Upfront: Employers may choose to immediately give employees the full amount of paid sick leave (40 hours/5 days under current law) at the start of the calendar year, but no carryover is required for any unused sick time.
Comparing the Two Accrual Methods
| Method | How Leave Accrues | Carryover Required? | Annual Usage Cap |
| Accrual Method | 1 hour earned per 30 hours worked, starting on day one of employment | Yes, unused hours carry over, up to the 80-hour (10-day) cap | 40 hours / 5 days per year |
| Upfront (Front-Loaded) Method | Full annual amount (40 hours/5 days) granted at start of year or upon hire | No carryover required | 40 hours / 5 days per year |
PERMISSIBLE USES OF PAID SICK LEAVE
Under the Healthy Families Act, paid sick leave in California may be used for the diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition or preventive care for yourself or a family member. Family member means a child (biological, adopted, foster child, stepchild), spouse, registered domestic partner, parent, grandparent, sibling or grandchild. Paid sick days are also available for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
NOTE: Your employer cannot require you to search for or find a replacement worker to cover the days that you use the paid sick leave.
Paid Sick Leave vs. Unpaid Sick Time in California
Not every day you take off sick in California is automatically paid. You may be placed on unpaid sick time if you haven’t yet reached your 90th day of employment (even though your paid sick leave began accruing on day one), you’ve already used all of the paid sick leave available to you for the year, you work fewer than 30 days a year for the employer, or you fall into one of the excluded categories listed above.
In those situations, your employer generally isn’t required to pay you for the time off, though you may still have job protection under separate laws such as the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) or the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) if your absence qualifies. The key difference: unpaid sick leave in California can still protect your job, but it does not guarantee wage replacement the way paid sick leave does.
If your employer classifies your time off as unpaid sick time when you actually had paid sick leave available and eligible to use, that mislabeling can itself be a violation of the Healthy Families Act, and it’s worth having an employment attorney review your pay stubs and sick leave balance.
Penalties for Employers Who Violate Paid Sick Leave Laws
California takes paid sick leave violations seriously. Under Labor Code Section 248.5, if the Labor Commissioner finds that an employer unlawfully withheld paid sick leave, the employer can be ordered to pay the value of the withheld leave multiplied by three (or $250, whichever is greater), up to an aggregate penalty of $4,000.
If the violation caused the employee additional harm, for example, being disciplined or fired for requesting or using paid sick leave, the employer can face an additional penalty of $50 for each day the violation continued, also capped at $4,000.
Retaliating against an employee for requesting or using paid sick leave is illegal under California law, and employees who experience retaliation may be entitled to reinstatement and back pay in addition to these penalties. You can read the enforcement provisions in full under California Labor Code Section 248.5.
SEEK THE HELP OF AN EMPLOYMENT ATTORNEY TODAY
You may be experiencing paid sick leave issues in California because your employer has ignored your paid sick leave rights or even its own sick leave policies. Or, in many cases, your employer allows you to take a sick day but refuses to pay you for it.
Fortunately, at Pimentel Law, we can help you understand your rights so that you get the paid sick leave you are entitled to by law. If your employer is misclassifying paid sick leave as unpaid sick time, or denying you unpaid sick leave protections you’re entitled to under California law, we can help you understand your options.
Contact today to set up a free consultation with us to learn more about paid sick leave, as well as how to protect your sick leave rights in California.
Schedule a free case evaluation, contact us today.
