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California’s Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act requires employers to provide paid sick leave to virtually all employees — and the specific requirements have evolved through multiple legislative amendments since the original 2015 law. Employers who haven’t updated their sick leave policies to reflect the 2024 amendments are out of compliance right now. Here is what changed and what you need to fix.
The 2024 Amendment: 5 Days or 40 Hours
Effective January 1, 2024, SB 616 increased California’s mandatory paid sick leave accrual from 3 days (24 hours) to 5 days (40 hours) per year. Employers using an accrual method must allow employees to accrue at least 1 hour of sick leave per 30 hours worked, and employees must be allowed to accrue at least 40 hours annually. Employers using an upfront grant method must provide at least 40 hours (5 days) at the beginning of each year of employment. Employers who haven’t updated their policies to reflect the 5-day requirement since January 1, 2024 are in violation — and each employee affected by the violation has a PAGA claim waiting.
Carryover and Cap Rules
Under the accrual method, employees carry over unused sick leave from year to year. Employers can cap the carryover at 80 hours (10 days) — anything above that can be forfeited at year-end. But the cap on use remains at 40 hours per year — an employee who has 80 hours accrued can still only use 40 in any given year. The interaction between the carryover cap and the use cap is a common source of confusion and non-compliance. Your sick leave policy must clearly state both the accrual cap and the use limit.
The Notice and Documentation Requirements
California’s wage notice requirements require employers to include sick leave information on each employee’s pay stub: the number of hours of sick leave available as of the pay period (or a reference to the employer’s separate sick leave policy document if the policy meets specific requirements). Failure to include this information is a wage statement violation — which carries PAGA exposure of $100 per employee per pay period for initial violations. For a 20-person company on biweekly payroll, an ongoing wage statement violation accumulates to $52,000 in theoretical PAGA penalties annually.
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