California Extends Supplemental COVID Sick Leave—Again | Blogs | Labor & Employment Law Perspectives
On September 29, 2022, a day before California’s 2022 COVID Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law was set to expire, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 152, extending the law through December 31, 2022.
The extension of the 2022 COVID Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law does not create new banks of leave for employees and does not change the reasons for which an employee may take leave. As with the original 2022 Supplemental Sick Leave, there are two categories of leave: one for any COVID qualifying reason (i.e. quarantine or isolation) and one for if the employee or a family member tests positive for COVID. Full-time employees have 40 hours in each category; part-time employees or those without regular schedules are allocated an equal amount of leave in each category, calculated based on hours worked.
Rather than creating new leave banks, the extension allows for employees who have not already used all of the previously granted leave to use the supplemental sick leave through the end of 2022. Employees who are taking leave as of December 31, 2022, may continue to use their leave into 2023, so long as it is continual from 2022. As with previous incarnations of the law, there is no set deadline for an employee to submit a request for pay after taking COVID supplemental sick leave, so requests for pay for leave taken in 2022 will be permissible in 2023.
The law makes two important changes to the requirements of 2022 COVID Supplemental Paid Sick Leave:
First, in the 2022 leave law prior to September 30, employers could require an employee who tested positive for COVID-19 to submit to a diagnosis test on or after the fifth day following the original positive test, and submit documentation of that test. Under the extension of the leave law, if the test taken on or after the fifth day is positive, employers may require the employee to submit a second diagnosis test within no less than 24 hours after the submission of the previous tests. As with all testing required by the employer, the employer must make tests available at no cost to the employee. If the employee refuses to take an additional test or submit documentation of testing, the employer has no obligation to provide additional supplemental paid sick leave.
Second, the extension of the 2022 law creates a California Small Business and Nonprofit COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Relief Grant Program within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and implemented by the Office of the Small Business Advocate. The goal of this program is to assist small business and nonprofits with the cost incurred for COVID supplemental paid sick leave. Grants will be no more than the actual costs incurred, up to $50,000, and will not count as gross income for state tax purposes. To qualify for a grant, a small business or nonprofit must: be either a “C” corporation, “S” corporation, cooperative, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, or registered 501(c)(3), 501(c)(6), or 501(c)(19); have begun operations before June 1, 2021, be currently active and operating, have 26-49 employees, provide COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, and provide organizing tax, and filing documents. Exceptions to these requirements may apply regarding qualifying for a grant.
For employers in Long Beach, San Francisco, Los Angeles (city and county), and Oakland, the extension of 2022 COVID Supplemental Paid Sick Leave does not change the obligations to provide leave under those city and county ordinances or the interaction of those ordinances with state law.
