Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Is sick leave and health and welfare pay the same thing?

For seven years now, I've been working for a company that deals with private correction. When the company was hiring they advertised that they pay a health and welfare pay of $223.00 a month and they also offered us 6 days of paid sick time. About one year ago, the Buisness manager got all of the Officers together and told us that his boss the head Buisness Manager and some of the company lawyers did some research and supposedly found out that they did not have to pay their employees sick time because it and health and welfare pay were the same thing. From my understanding health and welfare pay is used to help pay for medical insurance. So question number 1. Are health and welfare and sick leave the same. #2 question, can a company take away sick leave if they promised it to you as part of the contract?


Asked on 6/06/07, 3:36 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Kirschbaum Law Offices of Michael R. Kirschbaum

Re: Is sick leave and health and welfare pay the same thing?

It is important to understand that private employers are not required to pay any benefits, at all, except for legally required pay. Everything else is purely a benefit that is either contracted for or offered as a fringe benefit that can be altered at any time, upon notice.

If you have a contract that requires this employer to pay you certain benefits for a fixed period of time or throughout your employment, then the employer cannot take it away from you. However, if you are talking about benefits that were offered at the time of your hire, without a guarantee as to how long they will last (as is usually the case), the employer has the right to change the terms and conditions as they deem necessary, upon notice to you.

If you believe you have a binding contract that is being violated, consult with an experienced employment law attorney to review the contractual terms.

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Answered on 6/06/07, 12:43 pm


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