Our colleagues David M. Prager, Jennifer L. Nutter, Alice Kwak, and Mary T. Vu at Epstein Becker Green recently published an Act Now Advisory that will be of interest to our readers in the health care industry: “Annual California Employment Law Update: New Laws for 2021 Provide COVID-19 Protections and Expand Family Leave.” This year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed numerous employment-related bills passed by the California Legislature. Major changes affecting employers with California operations in the coming year include:
- requiring COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for certain health care providers and emergency responders, persons employed by private businesses of 500 or more employees, and food sector workers;
- creating a rebuttable presumption for purposes of workers’ compensation that a covered employee contracted COVID-19 at work; and
- expanding job-protected family leave for employees of companies with five or more employees.
The following is an excerpt:
COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave. Effective immediately, AB-1867 requires that employers with 500 or more employees nationwide provide up to 80 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (“SPSL”) to employees who leave their homes to perform work. The law also applies to health care employees and emergency responders whose employers opted out of compliance with the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).
For purposes of determining whether an employer has 500 or more employees in the United States, employees are counted in the same manner as they are counted under the FFCRA, meaning that either this law or the FFCRA will apply to employees working in California.
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