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News & Updates: Update re California Mandatory Sick Leave: Required Posting 1/1/15, Updated Wage Theft Notice For Employees for 1/1/15, and Labor Commissioner FAQ’s

Update re California Mandatory Sick Leave: Required Posting 1/1/15, Updated Wage Theft Notice For Employees for 1/1/15, and Labor Commissioner FAQ’s

Posted by Lisa McCabe van Krieken

 

As everyone now knows, California will begin having mandatory paid sick leave effective July 1, 2015 under AB 1522, the “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014”. Although sick leave accrual does not begin until July 1st, the statute does otherwise become effective January 1, 2015. For example, the qualifying period for the eligibility requirement that an employee work 30 days in a year becomes effective on January 1 (not July 1).

Here are some other important updates regarding the new statute:

  • New Poster to be Displayed as of January 1, 2015: While accrual of paid sick leave does not start until July 1, 2015, employers must post the required Poster in the workplace as of January 1, 2015. The California Labor Commissioner has issued a template Poster for that purpose, which can be found here.

 

  • Updated Notice to Employees for New Employees under Section 2810.5 (“Wage Theft Notice”) as of January 1, 2015: The Labor Commissioner also has now updated its Notice to Employees under section 2810.5 (also known as the “Wage Theft Notice”). This updated Notice also must be used as of January 1, 2015 for new employees, and it can be found here. However, note that in the template Notice, the employer will need to check a box as to what type of sick leave policy it will be applying, and employers may want to add the words “Accrual effective July 1, 2015.” For current employees, employers will need to give written notice of the change in the law as sick leave within 7 days of the change (presumably July 1, 2015), an may either use this new notice or some other written notice.

 

  • Labor Commissioner FAQ’s: The Labor Commissioner also issued FAQ’s to help clarify what is required under the new statute. Those FAQ’s can be found here.

 

Employers should make sure that they are posting the new Poster and using the updated Notice to Employees for new employees on January 1, 2015.