California’s sick day law requires almost every employer in the state to provide at least five days or 40 hours of paid sick leave each year, whichever gives the worker more time. Senate Bill 616 raised the minimum from three days to five effective January 1, 2024, and the rules apply to full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers after a short qualifying period.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246 You can use that leave for your own health, a family member’s health, or certain safety needs, and your employer has to pay you at your regular rate when you do.
Who Qualifies
You’re covered if you work for the same California employer for at least 30 days in a year. Your leave starts accruing on day one, and you can begin using it on your 90th day of employment.2California Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave – Frequently Asked Questions Job title, hours, and whether you’re classified as temporary don’t matter.
A short list of workers falls outside the law: employees under collective bargaining agreements that already provide equivalent sick leave and meet specific wage rules, certain construction workers with qualifying CBAs, flight deck and cabin crew covered by the federal Railway Labor Act who receive equivalent compensated time off, retired public employees who return to work without re-enrolling in their retirement system, and railroad workers under the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act.3California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 245.5 If none of those describe you, you’re entitled to paid sick leave.
How Much You Get and How It Builds Up
The floor is five days or 40 hours a year, whichever is greater. The distinction matters when your shifts run long. If you regularly work 10-hour days, five days equals 50 hours, not 40.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246 Employers can offer more. They can’t offer less.
Employers pick one of three ways to provide the leave, and the choice affects carryover.
Standard Accrual
You earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, starting your first day. Unused hours carry into the next year, but your employer can cap total accumulation at 80 hours or 10 days, and can limit your actual use to 40 hours or five days in any 12-month period.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246
Front-Loading
Your employer can drop the full 40 hours or five days into your bank at the start of each year. No carryover is required under this method; the balance can reset to zero when the new year begins.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246
Alternative Accrual
A different schedule is allowed if it gets you at least 24 hours by your 120th calendar day of employment and at least 40 hours by your 200th.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246
What You Can Use Sick Leave For
Paid sick leave covers diagnosis, treatment, and preventive care for you or a family member. Routine checkups count, not just serious illness.4California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246.5
California defines family broadly. You can use sick leave for:
- A child, parent, spouse, or registered domestic partner
- A grandparent, grandchild, or sibling
- One additional person you designate each year
The designated-person slot lets you cover someone who doesn’t fit the traditional definitions, like a close friend or unmarried partner.5California Department of Industrial Relations. Paid Sick Leave in California
Victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking can also use paid sick leave for medical care, shelter services, or other safety-related steps.4California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246.5
Starting in 2025, outdoor agricultural workers gained a specific use: taking paid sick leave to avoid smoke, heat, or flooding when a declared state or local emergency prevents safe outdoor work.4California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246.5
Requesting Leave, and What Your Employer Can’t Demand
An oral or written request is enough. Your employer generally cannot condition sick leave on a doctor’s note. There’s a narrow exception when specific information suggests the request isn’t legitimate, but that’s the exception, not the routine.2California Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave – Frequently Asked Questions
Your employer also cannot make you find a replacement worker to cover your shift.4California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246.5 If you’ve heard “find someone to cover or you can’t call out,” that’s a violation.
Your employer can set a minimum increment for how much leave you take at once, up to two hours. So a 30-minute early departure could still cost two hours from your balance.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246
How Sick Leave Is Paid
Sick leave is paid at your regular rate. That’s simple with a flat hourly wage. If your pay varies because of commissions, piece rates, or multiple hourly rates, your employer uses one of two calculations: total non-overtime pay for the workweek you used sick leave divided by non-overtime hours worked that week, or total pay (excluding overtime premiums) over the previous 90 days divided by non-overtime hours worked during that period.2California Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave – Frequently Asked Questions
What Happens When You Leave and Come Back
California doesn’t require employers to pay out unused sick leave at separation. This is different from vacation, which must be cashed out. Your sick leave balance can simply disappear when you leave. If your employer uses a combined PTO bank that includes vacation, the vacation portion may still require payout.
Come back within 12 months and your previously accrued, unused sick leave has to be reinstated. You pick up where you left off. The only exception is if the employer already paid out the balance at separation, in which case there’s nothing to restore.1California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246
What Your Employer Must Post, Tell You, and Track
Every employer has to display a workplace poster explaining sick leave rights in a visible location. The Labor Commissioner supplies the template, and willfully skipping the poster carries a civil penalty of up to $100 per offense.6California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 247
New employees must get written information about their paid sick leave rights at hiring. Each pay stub, or a separate written statement provided on payday, must show how much sick leave you have available. Employers must keep accrual and use records for at least three years.
Retaliation and the 30-Day Presumption
Your employer cannot fire, demote, suspend, or otherwise punish you for using accrued sick leave, trying to use it, filing a complaint, or cooperating with an investigation.4California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246.5
The law adds real teeth. If your employer takes an adverse action against you within 30 days of your filing a complaint, cooperating with an investigation, or objecting to a violation, the action is presumed retaliatory. Your employer then has to prove it wasn’t. That rebuttable presumption shifts the burden and makes it harder to disguise retaliation as a routine personnel move.4California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246.5
Penalties When Employers Violate the Law
When the Labor Commissioner finds a violation, the administrative penalty for unlawfully withheld sick days is three times the dollar amount withheld or $250, whichever is greater, up to $4,000 total.7California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 248.5
If the violation causes additional harm, like a firing tied to sick leave use, the penalty is $50 for each day the violation continued, also capped at $4,000. On top of the penalties, the Labor Commissioner or Attorney General can seek reinstatement, back pay, and attorney’s fees in court.7California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 248.5
How to File a Complaint
You can file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office online, by email, by mail, or in person at a local office. You have three years from the date of the violation to file.8California Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim
After filing, the office investigates and typically schedules a settlement conference with your employer. If it isn’t resolved there, a hearing officer reviews evidence and issues a decision. You don’t need a lawyer, though having one helps when retaliation or significant back pay is involved.8California Department of Industrial Relations. How to File a Wage Claim
Local Ordinances That Go Further
State law sets a floor, not a ceiling. Cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Diego have their own paid sick leave ordinances that require more generous benefits, whether that means more hours, broader qualifying reasons, or faster accrual. When a local rule gives you more than the state, your employer must follow the local rule.2California Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave – Frequently Asked Questions If you work in one of those cities, check the local ordinance before assuming the state minimum is all you’re owed.