Name that Section: Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts
©2018 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
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2. F
AMILY
S
ICK
L
EAVE AND
P
ERSONAL
N
ECESSITY
L
EAVE
a. California’s Paid Sick Leave Law (AB 1522)
Effective July 1, 2015, California’s Paid Sick Leave Law (“AB 1522” or Labor Code section 245
et seq
.) requires that all employees who have worked for more than 30 days for an employer be
provided paid sick leave at the accrual rate of one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked,
up to a minimum of 3 days or 24 hours of paid sick leave to be provided in a 12-month period.
An employee can only accrue paid sick leave up to a cap of 6 days or 48 hours ongoing. Any
unused accrued paid sick leave does carryover year to year while continuously employed.
Alternatively, the employer can provide each employee with 3 days or 24 hours of paid sick
leave at the beginning of each 12-month period. Any unused paid sick leave from the previous
12-month period will not carryover to the new 12-month period. An employee is not eligible to
begin using any accrued paid sick leave until the 90th day of employment with the Agency.
Traditional sick leave policies that go beyond these minimum requirements can also be used, so
long as they provide the minimum requirements.
Under AB 1522, the first 3 days/24 hours (whatever is more) in a 12-month period must be
available to use for the employee’s own illness, the illness of an immediate family member
(parent, child, spouse, registered domestic partner, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild and
sibling), or for a victim of stalking/sexual assault/domestic violence per Labor Code sections 230
and 230.1.
b. Labor Code Section 233
Labor Code section 233, subdivision (a), provides that any employer who provides sick leave for
employees shall permit an employee to use, in any calendar year, not less than half of one year's
annual accrued sick leave for diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition of, or
preventive care for, an employee or an employee's family member. All conditions and
restrictions placed by the employer upon the use by an employee of normal sick leave apply to
the use of family sick leave.
“Sick leave” under this section refers to compensated leave provided by an employer to an
employee as an employment benefit for use during an absence due to a physical or mental illness
or injury that precludes the employee from performing his or her duties; an absence to obtain
professional diagnosis or treatment for the employee’s medical condition; or an absence for other
employee medical reasons such as pregnancy.
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“Sick leave” does not include benefits provided
under an employee welfare benefit plan subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974, insurance benefits, workers’ compensation benefits, unemployment
compensation disability benefits, or benefits not payable from the employer’s general assets.
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Employers are prohibited from denying an employee the right to use family sick leave, and may
not discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, or in any manner discriminate against an
employee for using, or attempting to exercise the right to use, family sick leave.
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An employee