California Labor laws do not require that companies offer paid sick time, vacation pay or PTO, nor does it require holiday pay. But if an employer does choose to offer these benefits, California labor laws do govern how these benefits will be handled.

Sick Time

Sick time can be accrued at your regular hourly rate of pay. If you are paid a salary, simply take your annual salary and divide it by 52 weeks then divide that by 40 hours . The most important thing to remember about sick time is that it can expire and it does not have to be cashed out to you if you do not use it.

Vacation Time

While paid vacation is not required to be given to employees, California labor law does require that it be paid at the regular hourly rate of pay if the company chooses to offer it. Vacation time cannot expire and cannot be taken away from the employees once accrued. If your company tells you that you must use it or lose it, it is likely that your employer is not following California labor law. Your employer is not required to approve your requests for time off but they must cash out the value of your vacation time to you whenever you choose.

PTO

PTO stands for Paid Time Off. Some employers lump both vacation time and sick pay in to one category. If the employer chooses to do this they must treat this time similarly to vacation time. In other words, you cannot lose PTO. It must be used or cashed out, it cannot disappear.

Holiday Pay

Can be paid at ones regular rate of pay for a holiday in which the employee does not come to work, or an employer may choose to pay the employee at a higher rate if the employee works on a holiday. Keep in mind, the employer has full discretion over this. If you are paid for a day in which you do not come to work it will not count toward your 40 hours of regular pay and it will not affect how your overtime rates are paid to you.

Labor law is complex; if you have any questions regarding your employment it is recommended that you contact a California labor law attorney who can help you understand your rights and in many cases will review your situation without charge.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Pavel Ilyukhin

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In 2008 FMLA was amended by congress to include eligible employees with family members serving in the military with two types of leave

• · Military caregiver’s leave gives employees up to 26 weeks of leave in a 12-month period to take care of a “seriously injured or ill” family member currently serving in the military.
• · Qualified exigency leave allows employees (whose spouse, child, or parent is called into active duty) time off to respond to certain circumstances that arise because of a call to active duty.

President Obama took these guidelines a step further and proposed the following in his the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (“NDAA”). In January of this year The Department of Labor, (DOL) released a notice of proposed rule making to implement these rules as follows:

• · Extends military caregiver leave to eligible employees whose family members are recent veterans that suffered a serious injury or illness (prior to the NDAA, military caregiver leave was available only to employees of current service members);
• · Permits eligible employees to take military caregiver leave for up to five years after their family member was discharged from military service, and continue that leave during the twelve-month leave period, regardless of whether the leave extends beyond the five years since active service;
• · Expands the definition of serious illness or injury to include pre-existing conditions that become aggravated during military service; Expands the number of eligible medical providers that can draft a medical certification to justify military caregiver leave by including medical providers that are not associated with the military;
• · Expands the scope of qualified exigency leave by extending it to eligible employees whose spouse, parent, or child serves in the Regular Armed Forces (not just the National Guard or Reserves);
• · Clarifies that the qualified exigency leave is permitted only if the service member is deployed in a foreign country; and
• · Provides that eligible employees may take up to 15 days (rather than the current 5 days) to spend time with a family member on rest and recuperation leave from the military.

The DOL also proposed an implement on regulations for Airline Flight Crews in the form of the “Airline Flight Crews Technical Corrections Act” (“AFCTCA”), which the President signed into law in December 2009. Because airline crews work such different schedules than most other industries, the AFCTCA proposed rules to create special FMLA minimum hours of service eligibility requirements for airline flight crew employees and flight attendants to provide leave entitlement to such employees.

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available here. Interested parties have until March 30, 2012 to submit comments on the proposed regulations. Comments may be submitted electronically at www.regulations.gov (identified by Regulatory Information Number 1235‐AA03) or by mail addressed to Mary Ziegler, Director of the Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S‐3510, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210.

Labor law is complex; if you have any questions regarding your employment it is recommended that you contact a California labor law attorney who can help you understand your rights and in many cases will review your situation without charge.

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Have you ever had a family emergency and had difficulty getting time off work? Well, new legislation could expand the circumstances under which you are entitled to leave from work. February 19, 2010 is the deadline for state legislators to introduce new bills for the year. Because of the state’s dire economic state, the Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg  has limited the number of bills that each Senator may introduce. Nonetheless, there are several bills that will be proposed in favor of California workers.

Assembly member Swanson  plans to propose AB 1666 and AB 1667,  which would expand leave under the California Family Rights Act. AB 1666 pertains to sick leave for employees. Under existing law, employees who have had worked for at least one year are entitled to take up to 12 workweeks for family care and medical leave. “Family care and medical leave” is defined as leave for the birth of a child or a serious health condition of the employee or the employee’s child, parent, or spouse. This bill would expand the definition to include any illness that has been declared a national or state pandemic.  AB 1667 would further expand the circumstances for leave to include the serious health condition of a sibling.

The other piece of important legislation is the bereavement leave bill to be sponsored by the California Employment Lawyers Association.  Back in 2007, the California legislature had considered SB 549,  which would have allowed employees to take bereavement leave upon the death of a family member, but the bill was vetoed by the governor. Current California law does not provide leave for employees to grieve, make funeral arrangements, or attend funeral services. Employees who leave work for these reasons are subject to termination without legal recourse. This bill would grant employees up to 4 days of unpaid time off upon the death of a family member without reprisal or discharge.

If you need to take leave from work, whether it is due to illness, the birth of a baby, or the death of a family member, there are some ways to make the transition easier for both you and your employer.

Strategy:

1. Ask yourself if a leave of absence is absolutely necessary. You may want to consider options such as taking vacation time, sick days, or reducing your hours.

2. If you are leaving for an extended period of time, take time to consider your budget including everyday expenses and medical bills, if any.

3. Check to see if you qualify for workers compensation, employment insurance, disability benefits, or any other benefits, and make your claim as soon as possible.

4. Notify your boss of your situation and try to make arrangements with your co-workers to cover your duties while you are gone.

5. When you can return, be sure to consider your duties and ability. You may want to ask your employer for reduced hours or more flexible hours.

If you have been terminated or discriminated against due to taking a leave of absence you should seek the counsel of an experienced California Employment Attorney.  Most labor lawyers  are able to give free consultations so there is no harm in seeking help.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/ Africa Studio

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