The City of Los Angeles has a mandatory paid sick leave (PSL) law which is part of its minimum wage ordinance and which has been in effect since July 1, 2016, for employers with 26 or more employees. The Los Angeles PSL ordinance will begin to apply to employers with 25 or fewer employees on July 1, 2017.
From an employer perspective, one of the toughest challenges of these local PSL ordinances is that the rules can change at any time. That is precisely what happened with Los Angeles’s ordinance when the city recently revised the rules and regulations relating to this ordinance. The city also revised its answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ).
Some of these changes or clarifications are important, providing information on topics such as:
- How to determine business size;
- How to pay employees for sick time;
- When an existing paid leave or paid time off policy can satisfy the requirements of the ordinance;
- How to use the frontloading method during the first year that the law applies to an employer and in subsequent years; and
- Whether a maximum cap on accrued hours is allowed.
The Los Angeles PSL ordinance contains different provisions than the state PSL law. Employers with businesses in a city with a local PSL ordinance need to comply with both the state and the local law. For each provision, protection or benefit, employers will need to provide whichever is more generous to the employee.
More information can be found on the Office of Wage Standard’s website.
Gail Cecchettini Whaley, CalChamber Employment Law Counsel/Content
The City of Los Angeles requires employers to post a minimum wage and paid sick leave poster. CalChamber’s Los Angeles Labor Law Posters contains the official notices employers must post in Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County.
