On March 19, 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 95 into law, once again requiring employers to provide California employees with paid sick leave in connection with COVID-19. Under SB 95, employees may be entitled to up to 80 hours of this supplemental paid sick leave. The new law, codified at Labor Code § 248.2, is similar to the 2020 COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave laws for food sector and non-food sector workers, but it significantly expands benefits to employees, and will impact hundreds, if not thousands, more employers than last year’s laws.
This GT Alert provides a summary of SB 95, the new COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave law, taking into account the recently-issued “2021 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave FAQs” issued by the DLSE (FAQs).