California Forces Employers to Increase the Number of Mandatory Paid Sick Days From Three to Five Days.
California employers, many of whom are still suffering from the negative financial impact of the COVID-19 shutdowns and the never-ending rising costs of inflation, are now forced to endure an additional burden: increasing the number of paid sick days provided to employees from three to five.
On October 4, 2023, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 616 into law. This new law increases the sick leave accrual rate to 40 hours or 5 days in each year of employment and goes into effect on January 1, 2024.
While at first glance the idea of increasing paid sick days from three to five may seem minimal, the costs to employers are exponential. California already provides employees with various leaves and paid benefits and many of these leaves overlap with one another. What is apparent is that California employers will now need to deal with the increased cost of labor. By allowing additional paid sick days, the employers will need to hire more employees to cover the same amount of work hours. These increased labor costs are causing many businesses, especially smaller businesses, to struggle (or perhaps continue to struggle) with the ever-rising cost of doing business in California.
To make matters worse, California employers are specifically banned from requiring documentation when sick leave is used. In fact, the law only requires the employees to notify the employer in advance if the sick leave is planned. If the sick leave is not planned or an emergency, the employee only has to give notice as soon as it is practical to do so. As you can see, the law is very lax when it comes to employees using their paid sick leave and is rife with abuse.
As a result, increasing the amount of paid sick leave that must be given to employees increases the financial burden on employers. Ultimately, the increased labor costs will likely be passed on to the consumers in the form of price hikes for good and services. Other companies may be forced to cut jobs, lower wages, or do away with various benefits.