Beginning on July 1, 2015, an employer in California must provide paid sick leave to participants who have completed 90+ days, regardless of full-time or part-time status. The leave must accrue at a rate of no less than one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Who is eligibile?

Participants who have completed 90 days of work will be eligibile to accrue one (1) hour for every thirty (30) hours worked or approximately .03333 hours for every hour worked. Participants who are working as of 07/01/2015 and after will be provided with retro-hours of sick leave and will be eligible to use the hours, provided that 90 days of work have been completed.

Requesting time off

Participants are advised to provide "reasonable advance notification", preferably in writing by submitting a Request for Leave (RFL) form, of their desire to use sick leave when the need is foreseeable. When the need for sick leave is not foreseeable, participants should contact their superiors (and any other applicable team members) to notify them of their absence no later than 15 minutes prior to their assigned starting time. Immediately upon returning to work, participants are advised to complete an RFL form if one has not already been completed by a supervisor, or participants may be required to follow leave procedures enforced by the worksite.

What if a participant takes a hiatus from the program?

Participants who temporarily leave begore completing the full eight months of the work program will be entitled to the unused sick time upon their return to the program. Sick hours will then continue to accrue as normal based on participants' hours worked.

Example: If a participant works for four months, takes a two-month break for personal reasons and then returns to complete the last four months of the program, the unused sick hours previously accrued will be reinstated and may be used immediately. The participant will also continue to accrue sick leave based on hours worked throughout the duration of the program.

Employment separation

All Participants are terminated from the system upon completion of their eight month programs and any sick hours that are unused at that time will be list. Participants who wish to reenroll into the work experience program must wait a minimum of twelve months and will be regarded as new employee-participants. As such, the 90-day introductory period will reapply and the participant will be eligible to use sick leave upon completion of the 90 days. Participants will not be paid for earned but unused sick days upon termination.

Sick leave defined

Participants may used paid sick leave for preventive care or treatment of existing health conditions in relation to themselves or personal family members (including spouses, registered domestic partners, children, parents, grandparents, and siblings). Paid sick leave is also available for participants who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.