Paid Sick Leave to Be Required in San Francisco

Employers will be required to provide paid sick leave for all employees within San Francisco city and county under a new law approved by San Francisco voters as Proposition F on Nov. 7, 2006. Some analysts predict the law could be a forerunner for legislative initiatives in other parts of the United States.

Under the law, employees hired after Feb 5, 2007, will begin to accrue paid sick leave 90 days after their employment begins. Employees hired on or before that date will begin to accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work starting Feb. 5, 2007.

Paid sick leave will accrue only in hour-unit increments and will be capped at 72 accrued hours for larger businesses and 40 accrued hours for companies with fewer than 10 employees. Accrued sick leave will carry over from year to year (whether calendar or fiscal year) but will remain limited under the caps. Employers will not be required to pay accrued sick leave to terminated employees.

The law applies to all workers, including temporary and part-time employees. The mandated requirements also apply to workers assigned to work in the city, even if their home base is elsewhere.

Employers that do not follow the law can be subject to civil actions and fines equal to three times the amount of paid sick leave withheld from the employee or $250, whichever is greater. In addition, if a violation of the new law results in other harm to the employee or any other person, such as discharge from employment, an additional administrative penalty of $50 for each day or portion may be required to be paid to each employee or person whose rights are found to have been violated.

January 2007