To ensure that the employee’s rights are protected, the State of California has introduced paid sick leave. Workers should have fun and be healthy in an environment where their rights are considered the topmost priority.

Due to the lifestyle people follow and stress, anyone could fall ill, and coming to work when you are sick sometimes is impossible.

What is Paid Sick Leave?

These are additional leaves that are added to an employee’s leave fund. This makes them eligible to take off from work when they are sick and get paid for the particular days that they could not be present.

Paid sick leave is for the benefit of the employee so that they can stay back home and relax for the days that they have been sick. It is every working individual’s right, and the employer has to enable sick leave for each and every employee that works in their organization.

The Paid Sick Leave law in California was amended on the 3rd of April, 2016, enabling sick leave for working individuals, whether on a full time or part time basis.

How to Get Paid Sick Leave?

You are entitled to paid sick leave if you are a full time or part time employee in any organization. The sick leave policy in California states that an employee who works for 30 hours is entitled to 1 hour of paid sick leave. Every employee who has joined an organization after July 1, 2015, is eligible to get a paid sick leave.

The employee who works on a full-time basis can avail up to 8 days of paid sick leave in a year according to the calculation for counting paid sick leave days. If an employee wants to roll over their paid sick leave for next year they can often do that. Employees can apply for sick leave in writing or ask for a leave verbally.

When Do You Gain Sick Leave?

An employee who has completed 90 days of employment in an organization is eligible for paid sick leave. Following are the conditions, under which an employee can ask for Paid Sick Leave,

• If they fall ill.
• To go for a preventive check up.
• For a family members’ health check up.
• If an employee is a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence.

These leaves are to ensure and protect an employee’s working right. It makes them feel safe to work in such healthy atmosphere.

If an employee faces discrimination or ill behavior from their employer upon asking for sick leave, they can file a complaint against their employer.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Subbotina Anna

The post Paid Sick Leave in California appeared first on UELG.

Both California law, as well as, the federal laws include provision for protecting all employees, including military, some paid sick leave. In 1994 the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Federal Act provide for permanent military employee’s job and benefit protection.

The military act prohibits employers from discriminating against any member of the military forces, which mean that California cannot discharge an employee just because of his/her military duties or training. This Protection Act covers all employees including members of National Guard from other states. It also covers all businesses regardless of size.

Military Leave for Spouse and Family

For Military Leave for Spouse and Family, all employers with over 25 employees are required by law to grant their employees up to 10 days unpaid off when their spouses are home on leave even during a military conflict. The military spouse who wishes to take time off must give notice to the employer within two business days and must provide their request on a written documentation.

Employers can allow their employees to utilize their accrued paid sick leave, paid time off or vacation during this leave, although it is not a requirement.

The employer is also required to allow spouse, parent, child or next of kin who is a member of the military to an emergency leave of up to 26 weeks to care for a soldier who may be undergoing medical treatment.

According to the act, employers should always remain proactive in notifying their employees about potential military leave options that are available to them. Employers are mandated to provide notice to all employees under USERRA that includes their obligations, benefits, and rights.

Sick Leave Rules

The sick leave in California demands that the call-up notification to employers should be provided in advance and can be either written or verbal. An employer may request copies of documents proving this.

If an employee goes on leave during the period of active duty, he/she is not entitled to receive pay. Employers may, however, pay their servicemen a lower salary during such leave.

According to USERRA employees who leave their usual job for military duty should be given same treatment as required under employer’s leave policies. Employers should provide continuous health coverage for up to 24 months.

The health coverage may be terminated before the end of the 24-month period if an employee fails to return to work without proper reasons. If the military sick leave in California is longer than 31 days, the employer may charge the employee up to 102 percent of the cost of the period.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Steven Bognar

The post What to Know About Military Sick Leave in California appeared first on UELG.

The health family act of 2014 created by California governor, Jerry Brown requires all employers to provide sick leave to employees. The law was implemented from July 1 2015 and it made California to enter history books as the second state behind Connecticut to compel employers to provide this coverage to employees. However, unlike Connecticut where this law only applies to employers who have more than 50 employees, the California law applies to all employers regardless of the size of their workforce. In this article, we are going to break down this laws to help you understand exactly what it entails.

How has this law effected employers?

When this law came into effect in July 1 2015, all employers were required to offer a certain minimum amount of sick leave to their workers each year. This means that all employers in state of California must calculate the sick leave that each employee has accrued, report their balance and pay all their employees for the sick leave that they have taken within their minimum balance.

Who is eligible under this law?

All employees who have work for at least 30 days in year are eligible to receive sick leave under this law. This include both temporary and part time employees with only few exceptions.

How to determine the amount that an employee can take when on sick leave

When it comes to determining the amount an employee can take on sick leave, employers have two options. The first option is to offer lump sum to employees at the beginning of the year. Employer who choose this option must offer three days at the beginning of the year. The second option is known as the accrual method. Employers who choose this method are required to pay at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours that the employee has worked. Employers who choose this method have the flexibility to choose to start accruing sick leave from July 1, 2015 if the employees were hired before this law was implemented.

What happens if the employees don’t take sick leave?

Employees who have not taken sick leave can roll over the amount accrued to 48 hours of untaken sick leave. However, employers who provide lump sum at the beginning of the year are not required to roll over the remaining balance to the following year.

What are the reasons for taking sick leave?

Employees can take sick leave when their own health or the health condition of their family member is not well. They can also take sick leave when seeking preventative treatment.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Subbotina Anna

The post California’s Recent Paid Sick Leave Law appeared first on UELG.

1. Is my employer required to give me sick leave?

Contrary to popular belief, there is no general legal requirement that employers give employees sick leave. While most employers do in fact give employees some paid time off each year to be used for sick leave, the law does not require employers to do so in most circumstances.

Under some circumstances, however, the law does require employers to permit employees to take unpaid time off from work for illness, without negative consequences for the employees. Leave from work may be required by the Family and Medical Leave Act or to accommodate a disability. In the case of pregnancy, an employer cannot deny leave to an employee for a pregnancy-related condition if the employer gives leave to employees for other temporary disabilities.

2. Is my employer required to pay me for sick leave?

Since there is no requirement under federal law that employees be given sick leave, there also is no legal requirement that sick leave, if given by an employer, be paid leave. But if an employer does not treat employees consistently when they take leave (for example, one employee gets paid when she misses work because of a cold while others are not paid when they miss work for minor illnesses), that employer may risk discrimination claims brought by employees who use evidence of this different treatment to show they have been discriminated against.

An employer who does provide paid sick leave is allowed under law to take reasonable actions to ensure that the leave is used for its intended purpose and not as a means to obtain additional vacation time. For example, your employer may require you to call in each day you are ill, or require a doctor’s note for serious illnesses. Your employer may also monitor patterns of sick leave use, for example to identify employees who consistently take sick time at the beginning or end of the week (to have longer weekends) or at the end of each year (to avoid losing accrued sick time). Employees who abuse sick leave policies run the risk of discipline or termination.

3. Does the law require that I be paid for unused accrued sick time when I leave my job?

Unless required to do so under an employment contract, collective bargaining agreement, or other legally binding agreement, an employer is not required to pay employees for accrued sick time when they leave their employment. In this respect, accrued sick time is unlike accrued vacation time which, in some states, must be paid as part of an employee’s final paycheck.

Some employers pay employees for unused sick time, possibly as an incentive for employees to not misuse sick leave. However, this practice is generally completely voluntary, unless required by a contract as discussed above.

If you, or someone you know, are facing legal issues in the workplace United Employees Law Group has answers, Call Today for your free and confidential case review. Please feel free to CONTACT US with any questions about this blog or your exact situation.

For more information regarding this article, visit http://www.workplacefairness.org/sick-leave#1

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Subbotina Anna

The post 3 Things to Know Regarding an Employee’s Sick Leave appeared first on UELG.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), is the primary federal law protecting the right to take family or medical leave without losing your job, health insurance benefits, or suffering from retaliation. The FMLA guarantees an employee, male or female, who has been working at least a year for a company with 50 or more employees the right to job-protected, 12-week, unpaid leave to recover from a serious medical condition or to care for a newborn, a newly adopted child, or a seriously ill child, parent or spouse. The FMLA guarantees that at the end of the leave you will be given the same job you left or another job equivalent in pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions. During the leave, the employer is required to maintain your health insurance benefits if it would have if you hadn’t taken leave. The purpose of the FMLA is to allow employees to balance their work and family life by taking reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons.

Other federal laws that may also protect you when requesting a family or medical leave are Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which includes the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title VII makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex, which includes pregnancy discrimination, and may protect employees who wish to take leave for pregnancy-related reasons. The ADA makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of disability, and may protect employees who wish to take leave for disability-related reasons.

If you, or someone you know, are facing legal issues in the workplace United Employees Law Group has the answers. Call Today for your free and confidential case review. Please feel free to CONTACT US with any questions about this blog or your exact situation.

Courtesy of Workplace Fairness. For more information regarding the article, visit http://www.workplacefairness.org/family-leave

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/designer491

The post Which Federal Laws Cover Family and Medical Leave? appeared first on UELG.