When will new rule take effect?
Workers in California will be getting five days of paid sick leave each year thanks to a new law.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill 616 forwarded by Senator Lena Gonzales (D-Long Beach). The law increases workers’ current three paid sick days to five.
“Too many folks are still having to choose between skipping a day’s pay and taking care of themselves or their family members when they get sick,” said Newsom. “We’re making it known that the health and wellbeing of workers and their families is of the utmost importance for California’s future.”
Gonzales made the amendments to SB 616 last month and the change will take effect Jan. 1, 2024.
Importance of expanding paid sick leave
Working while sick is estimated to cost the national economy about $273 billion annually as it reduces an employee’s productivity by an average of 20%, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families.
It also noted that businesses benefit when their employees have access to paid sick days.
“When sick workers are able to stay home to recover, it lessens the risk of contagion, making workplaces healthier and employees more productive. Workers can obtain timely medical care and recover faster from illness, enabling them to get back to work sooner and reducing health care costs.”
Nearly all US workers (89%) worked through an illness in the last year, according to a previous report from HR software company BambooHR.
Also, two days of unpaid sick time are roughly the equivalent of a month’s worth of gas, making it difficult to get to work, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute. Three days of unpaid sick time translate into a household’s monthly utilities budget, preventing the worker from paying for electricity and heat.
And increasing access to paid sick days reduces health care costs, with evidence showing that when workers have paid sick days such costs go down and workers’ health benefits, according to Isabela Salas-Betsch, research associate for women’s initiative at The Center for American Progress.
Americans are currently struggling with their finances. Even employees earning over $100,000 annually admitted to financial struggles, with 35% saying they are living paycheck to paycheck, and 64% saying this is affecting their work productivity, according to a previous report from SecureSave.
Sick days ‘huge win’ for workers
A couple of stakeholders welcomed Newsom’s signing of SB 616.
“This is a huge win for workers who have struggled to access adequate paid sick time. We never know what can come up in our lives. A sick child. Emergency surgery. Serious illness. Going from 3 to 5 paid sick days a very important lifeline for working families across the state,” said Ingrid Vilorio, Jack in the Box worker from Castro Valley, CA.
“Now, workers will no longer have to worry about how to make the month’s rent or how to keep food on the table while recovering from illness or caring for a loved one. We thank Gov. Newsom for standing up for workers and signing SB 616.”
Allen J. Wilson, deaf and hard of hearing advocate, also commended Newsom for the move.
“Thank you, Governor @GavinNewsom for signing SB 616 that will now allow California workers to earn up to five days of sick leave while also increasing the accrual and carryover amounts. I don’t agree much with Newsom but this one means a lot for many workers like me,” he said via X.
At the start of 2023, Assembly Bill 1041 took effect. Under the amended California Family Rights Act (CFRA), an employee may take unpaid leave to care for a “designated person,” defined as “any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.”
