New California COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Notice

Covered employers are required to post this notice in a conspicuous place.

Last night, the California Labor Commissioner released the CA COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for Food Sector Workers poster. Employers who are covered under California’s new supplemental paid sick leave requirement for food sector workers (Executive Order N-51-20) must post this notice in a conspicuous place. If the employer’s food sector workers don’t frequent the workplace, then the employer may electronically distribute the notice.

As previously reported, Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order establishes a mandatory supplemental sick leave for employers with 500 or more employees who are covered by Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders 3, 8, 13 and 14, and Health & Safety Code section 113789. Eligible employees may take up to 80 hours of sick leave, paid at the highest of: the regular rate of pay for the last pay period, state minimum wage or local minimum wage. However, the rate of pay is capped at $511 per day and $5,110 total.

This new leave is in addition to California’s mandatory paid sick leave law, the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act, which requires all employers to provide three days or 24 hours of mandatory paid sick leave. Many California localities also have sick leave mandates, many of which exceed California’s minimum requirements. Several localities have recently passed COVID-19-related emergency paid sick leave (including Los Angeles City and San Jose).

Employers who fall under the new COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave law are encouraged to visit the California Labor Commissioner’s website, which includes frequently asked questions.

CalChamber members can read more about Paid Sick Leave in the HR Library. Not a member? See what CalChamber can do for you.

Visit the CalChamber Coronavirus (COVID-19) webpage for more COVID-19-related federal, state and local resources. Access additional COVID-19-related HRWatchdog blogs.

Staff Contact: Erika Frank

Erika Frank, longtime general counsel and executive vice president of legal affairs for the CalChamber, accepted an of counsel position in September 2021 at the Shaw Law Group, a leading employment law firm in Sacramento. She leveraged more than two decades of legal, governmental and legislative experience in advising the CalChamber and its members on the impact that labor laws, court decisions and regulations will have on employers. She has been the most frequent host of The Workplace podcast; oversaw and contributed to CalChamber labor law and human resources compliance publications; co-produced and presented webinars and seminars; and headed the Labor Law Helpline. She holds a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and earned her J.D. from the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.