City of Los Angeles Paid Sick Leave Requirements

If you work in the City of Los Angeles, paid sick leave under the city’s Minimum Wage Ordinance gives you up to 48 hours a year, earned at one hour for every 30 hours worked, and usable once you’ve been on the job for 90 days. The rule covers nearly every private-sector worker who puts in at least two hours of work inside city limits in any given week, and it stacks on top of California’s statewide sick leave law wherever the city’s terms are more generous.

Who Qualifies and When You Can Start Using It

Coverage turns on where you physically work, not where your employer is based. If you perform at least two hours of work within the geographic boundaries of the City of Los Angeles in a particular week and you meet the state minimum wage eligibility requirements under California Labor Code Section 1197, you’re covered.¹ Full-time, part-time, and temporary workers all qualify.

You become entitled to paid sick leave after 30 days of work with the same employer within a year of your start date. You can’t actually use any of the hours until your 90th day on the job, but they begin accruing from day one.²

Remote workers should look at where the laptop actually sits. Hours worked from an apartment inside city limits count toward the ordinance regardless of where the employer is headquartered; hours worked from a home in Pasadena or Long Beach don’t count, even for an LA-based company.

A narrow exemption exists for employees covered by a qualifying collective bargaining agreement. Construction workers may be fully exempt under state law if the agreement meets specific requirements, and workers in other industries with qualifying agreements may be partially exempt. The agreement must explicitly address wages, hours, premium overtime rates, and paid sick days or equivalent paid time off.³

How the Hours Build Up

Employers can use either of two methods. Under the accrual method, you earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked inside city limits, starting your first day.⁴ Under the front-loading method, the employer drops all 48 hours into your bank at the start of each year, calendar year, or 12-month period.² Front-loading is common because it removes the tracking burden.

If your employer already offers a paid time off policy that provides at least 48 hours of compensated time off usable for the same purposes, that satisfies the requirement. The employer doesn’t have to give you a separate sick bank on top of PTO.⁵

Annual Cap, Carryover, and What Happens If You Leave

You can use up to 48 hours of paid sick leave in one year. Unused hours carry over into the next year, but your employer is allowed to cap your total bank at 72 hours. Employers can set a higher cap or no cap at all if they choose.⁴ The 48-hour annual usage limit resets each year regardless of how many hours you have banked, so a full 72-hour balance still only lets you use 48 in a single year.

When you leave the job, whether you quit, get fired, or retire, your employer does not have to pay out unused sick leave. This trips people up because California requires payout of accrued vacation time at separation. Sick leave works differently. One thing to know: if you return to the same employer within a year, your previously accrued and unused sick time must be reinstated.² That matters if you work seasonally or leave between contracts.

What You Can Use Sick Leave For

Sick leave covers your own medical needs and care for a family member. Covered relationships include children, parents, spouses, registered domestic partners, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, and a designated person under California Labor Code Section 245.5(c). The LA ordinance goes further, adding anyone related by blood or whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship.⁵

Covered reasons include treatment for an existing condition, preventive care like checkups and vaccinations, and recovery after an illness or medical procedure. You can request leave orally or in writing. If the absence is foreseeable, give reasonable advance notice; for unexpected illness, notify your employer as soon as you can.

The ordinance lets employers require “reasonable documentation” for sick leave, without setting a specific day threshold below which no documentation can be requested.² What’s reasonable depends on the circumstances.

How Sick Pay Is Calculated

For hourly workers, sick pay matches your regular hourly wage for the hours missed. If you earn different rates for different tasks, the employer calculates a weighted average across those rates. The ordinance defines “wage” by reference to California Labor Code Section 200(a), which covers all forms of compensation whether based on time, piece rate, commission, or any other method.¹

For commission or piece-rate workers, the standard California approach divides total earnings by total hours worked over a representative period to get an hourly rate. Whichever method applies, sick pay must appear no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period after you take the leave.

How LA’s Rules Compare to California State Law

California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act, updated by SB 616 effective January 1, 2024, sets a statewide floor. LA’s ordinance runs on top of it and is more generous on several points. Where the two overlap, the rule better for the worker applies.

Annual usage cap: California allows employers to cap usage at 40 hours (5 days) per year. LA raises that to 48 hours (6 days).⁶⁴
Accrual cap: California allows employers to cap total accrual at 80 hours (10 days). LA allows a cap of 72 hours (9 days), though employers can go higher.
Accrual rate: Both use one hour per 30 hours worked.
Front-loading: California requires at least 40 hours upfront. LA requires 48.
Family: LA covers anyone whose close personal association is equivalent to family, which is broader than the state definition.

An employer subject to both laws needs to comply with whichever standard benefits the worker more on each individual point.

Anti-Retaliation Protections

Your employer cannot fire you, cut your pay, or punish you in any way for using sick leave or reporting a violation. LAMC Section 187.06 prohibits retaliation against any employee exercising rights under the ordinance.⁷

Penalties for retaliation are steep. Employers face administrative fines of up to $1,000 per affected employee, and the worker may be entitled to reinstatement plus treble damages on any withheld wages or benefits.⁸ An employer who docks a worker $500 for taking a sick day could end up owing $1,500 in back pay plus the $1,000 fine, with the total compounding for each day the violation continues.

How FMLA Fits In

LA sick leave can run concurrently with federal Family and Medical Leave Act leave. FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for serious health conditions, and your employer can require you to use accrued paid sick leave during that time so the same days count against both.⁹ You get paid during part of your FMLA leave, but you burn through your sick bank while you’re on it.

FMLA only covers employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles, and you need 12 months of tenure plus 1,250 hours worked to qualify. LA sick leave’s threshold is much lower, so plenty of workers who don’t qualify for FMLA still have city sick leave available.

Filing a Complaint

If your employer denies sick leave, retaliates against you for using it, or otherwise violates the ordinance, you can file a complaint with the City of Los Angeles Office of Wage Standards. Complaints go through the city’s online portal at wagesla.lacity.gov. Anonymous filing is allowed, but you won’t get updates on the case if you don’t provide contact information.¹⁰

The Office of Wage Standards investigates and can order employers to pay back any withheld wages or sick time benefits, plus a penalty of up to $120 per day to the employee and up to $50 per day to the city for each day the violation occurred.⁸ In retaliation cases, those amounts can be tripled. You don’t need a lawyer to file.

1
City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Municipal Code Article 7 – Los Angeles Minimum Wage Ordinance
2
American Legal Publishing. Los Angeles Municipal Code SEC. 187.04 Sick Time Benefits
3
Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave Frequently Asked Questions
4
City of Los Angeles Bureau of Contract Administration. 2024 Los Angeles Minimum Wage Ordinance Poster
5
City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles Minimum Wage Ordinance 184320
6
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246 – Paid Sick Days
7
American Legal Publishing. Los Angeles Municipal Code SEC. 187.06 Retaliatory Action Prohibited
8
Wages LA. Office of Wage Standards – City of Los Angeles
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 The Family and Medical Leave Act
10
Wages LA. Submit a Complaint – Wages LA