42 | 2023 Cal-Peculiarities ©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com Then, on March 19, 2021, Governor Newson signed legislation reviving and expanding the 2020 version of the CA-SPSL law while making the new law apply retroactively to January 1, 2021 (thereby requiring back payments) (2021 CA-SPSL). Features of the 2021 CA-SPSL law included a broader application to employers with more than 25 employees and greater protections for employees who could not work or telework due to a variety of Covidrelated reasons, including vaccination and caring for family members. The 2021 version of the law expired on September 30, 2021. Months after the expiration of the 2021 version of CA-SPSL, on February 9, 2022, Governor Newsom signed the 2022 California Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law (2022 CA-SPSL) into law. The 2022 CA-SPSL was effective February 19, 2022 and applied retroactively to January 1, 2022. Similar to its predecessors, the 2022 CA-SPSL applied to employers with more than 25 employees, and continued to expand the protections available to California employees. This iteration of the law contained several changes from the 2021 version: the 2022 CASPSL permitted employers to ask for documentation in limited circumstances, required employers to list the amount of leave used (as opposed to available) on wage statements, permitted employers to pay sick leave at the regular rate or using a 90-day lookback method (i.e., largely aligning with regular California paid sick leave), and expanded coverage related to family members. The 2022 CA-SPSL expired on December 31, 2022, and as of the time of publishing, has not been revived. Meanwhile, may local jurisdictions, such as the cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Francisco, saw their local paid sick leave ordinances sunset in conjunction with the end of state or local periods of emergency. Following the County’s declarared end of the period of emergency, the Los Angeles County Covid-19 leave ordinance sunset on April 14, 2023.150 The City of Oakland’s Covid-19 PSL is also tied to the local period of emergency; however, on February 9, 2023, the City extended its period of emergency.151 To date, Oakland is the only local Covid-19 sick leave ordinance remaining in place that requires paid sick leave specifically for Covid. 2.14.3 Cal/OSHA Earnings Continuation Under Cal/OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), versions of which were in place from November 30, 2020 through February 3, 2023, employers were required to pay employees “earnings continuation” when they were removed from the workplace under certain circumstances.152 In a sliver of good news for California employers, this requirement was notably excluded from Cal/OSHA’s recently approved two-year non-emergency Covid-19 standard.153 County and city ordinances. See Section 2.14.4, immediately following. 2.14.4 Local Paid Sick Leave Ordinances Numerous municipalities were not content to follow a uniform state-wide standard for paid sick leave. They have opted instead to create their own special laws. These municipalities include San Francisco, Berkeley, Emeryville, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Monica. In 2021, West Hollywood enacted a mandatory paid time off (PTO) law, joining the ranks of several jurisdictions nationwide with such a mandate. San Francisco Paid Sick Leave and Public Health Emergency Leave. The San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (PSLO), enacted in 2007, is the grandparent of paid sick leave mandates.154 Under the PSLO, workers accrue an hour of PSL for each 30 hours worked. Accrued PSL carries over year to year, although employers may apply a cap. For employers with fewer than 10 workers there can be a cap of 40 hours and for other employers there can be a cap of 72 hours. Employees may take leave not only for their own illness but also to care for a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, or other designated person. One consolation is that employers need not pay out unused PSL upon termination of employment, unless the PSL has been combined with vacation
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