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[UPDATE: The California Labor Commissioner updated its FAQs in April to provide further clarification as to when employees may use COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (COVID-19 SPSL). Highlights from the updated guidance include:

  • For employees to receive COVID-19 SPSL due to daycare closures, the closure must have been a total or partial closure that occurred on or after January 1, 2021, and rendered the care unavailable, because of COVID-19 on the premises.
  • An employee may receive COVID-19 SPSL if they are caring for a family member either because the family member has been advised by a medical professional to stay home due to COVID-19, or the family member is subject to a COVID-19 related quarantine or isolation period.
  • Employers must provide COVID-19 SPSL immediately upon the eligible employee’s oral or written request.]

On March 19, 2021 Governor Newsom signed into law SB 95 (adding sections 248.2 and 248.3 to the Labor Code), which requires employers to pay California employees up to two weeks of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (COVID-19 SPSL).

This new law revives and expands the supplemental paid sick leave law that expired on December 31, 2020. As a result of these changes from the prior iteration of California’s Supplemental Paid Sick Leave law, many more California employers will be required to provide, and many more employees will be eligible for, COVID-19 SPSL.
Continue Reading California brings back, and expands, COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave

[UPDATE: On March 12, 2021, Governor Cuomo signed the bills into law, providing for paid COVID-19 vaccination leave for New York employees, effective immediately.]

The New York State Legislature recently passed bills (Bill S2588A; A3354B) that would provide all public and private employees in New York with up to four hours of paid leave to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. The legislation is expected to be signed by Governor Cuomo shortly.

The proposed law provides that the paid vaccination leave may not be charged against any other leave that the employee is entitled to, such as any paid sick leave or leave pursuant to any collectively bargained agreement. An employee will be entitled to up to four hours for each COVID-19 vaccination through December 31, 2022.
Continue Reading Paid vaccination leave coming to New York

As we previously discussed, employers with fewer than 500 employees will no longer be legally required to provide employees with leaves of absence under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). As of January 1, 2021, covered employers may choose to voluntarily provide such leave through March 31, 2021, and continue to take tax credits for doing so.

Although FFCRA leave may now be an employer elective, covered employers in states and local jurisdictions that have passed their own COVID-19 leave laws may remain obligated to provide their eligible employees with COVID-19 leave. We previously discussed an expansion of Washington D.C.’s COVID-19 leave obligations through March 31, 2021. To a similar end, New York employers also have continuing COVID-19 leave obligations into 2021, and perhaps beyond.
Continue Reading NY employers’ continuing COVID-19 leave obligations…for the foreseeable future

As we explained in a recent post, as of January 1, 2021, COVID-19 leave is no longer mandated under the federal Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA), although covered employers who voluntarily provide paid leave outlined in the FFCRA may take advantage of the FFCRA tax credit through March 31, 2021. Notwithstanding this change…

On September 11, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued revised regulations under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which generally requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide paid sick leave and expanded Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave for certain COVID-19 related reasons. (We previously summarized the FFCRA’s leave requirements…

On August 27, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance (in FAQs numbered 98-100) clarifying how the childcare provisions of the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) apply to various remote and in-person school situations. As a reminder, the FFCRA generally requires private employers with fewer than 500 employees and many public sector employers…

On July 14, 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (Law). The law has two significant impacts. First, as a temporary measure, it immediately expands leave rights related to COVID-19 by requiring employers of any size (including employers with greater than 500 employees who are exempt from the Families…