Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: When must I provide benefits?

If you are a California employer, the answer to your question depends upon the type of "employee benefits" at issue. For example, California employers are required to cover all employees for "Workers' Compensation" benefits, irrespective of the hours, days, weeks, months or years employed. Vacation and sick leave employee benefits are not required to be provided to any employee; but once implemented, company policy will dictate eligibility and type of benefits provided (e.g., a company policy could be designed and drafted to lawfully exclude all part-time workers from participating in vacation and sick leave programs). However, health and welfare benefit laws generally require covering full time employees who have satisfied a short term eligibility period (e.g., consistent with applicable law, group health insurers typically require an employer to cover all employees who have worked at least 6 months, and 30 hours per week). If you sponsor a retirement plan (i.e., profit sharing, 401(k), pension, etc.), federal law requires most employers to include in their retirement plans employees who are at least 21 years of age and have been employed for a minimum of one-year. There are many, many exceptions to these general rules however. You would be well advised to contact an employee benefit attorney to discuss your specific concerns before taking any action.

Re: When must I provide benefits?

You are not required to provide benefits to any worker.