Legal Question in Employment Law in California

My employer is changing their sick/vacation policies. This is in California. Before I recieved 40 sick hours and 80 Vacation hours a year. This was accrued at 1.67 and 3.33 hours a check respectivley. I am salaried if it matters. The new policy they are getting rid of Sick/Vacation and putting it into a PTO bucket. The new accural rate is .033 hours per hour worked which for me because I am salary is 2.64 a paycheck or 63 hours a year. They are also changing the accrual caps, they were 40 for sick and 120 for vacation , the new PTO cap is 48. They are also saying that they will call PTO, Sick Leave. They said that the new bucket of hours could be used for things other than sick. I think this is an attempt to not pay out the "Sick Leave" at seperation. I know that the changing of accrual rates and caps are within their rights but is the "Sick Leave" thing legal. Also the hours of Sick and Vacation we had before the switch are still ours to keep, they are not taking them away which I think would be illegal.

Thanks


Asked on 7/01/15, 2:57 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kristine Karila Law Office of Kristine S. Karila

A new law went into effect in Calif. today. It is the paid sick leave law which requires most employers to pay paid sick leave of a minimum of 3 days per year. They don't have to provide anything beyond 3 days per year. Read my blog about the new law at www.attorneyemploymentlawca.com. Sick leave has never had to be paid out at termination and that stays the same. However, vacation pay, once earned, is owned by the employee and earned and unused vacation must be paid out at termination. I also have a blog about earned and unused vacation pay. The new law requires the employer to allow the employee to earn 1 hour of paid vacation for every 30 hours worked. They don't have to provide more than that. Show my blog to your employer if your employer is not providing at least 3 days of sick leave pursuant to the new law.

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Answered on 7/01/15, 3:03 pm


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