Workers in California will soon receive a minimum of five days of paid sick leave annually, instead of three, under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday.
The law, which takes effect in January, also increases the amount of sick leave workers can carry over into the following year. Newsom said it demonstrates that prioritizing the health and well-being of workers “is of the utmost importance for California’s future.”
“Too many folks are still having to choose between skipping a day’s pay and taking care of themselves or their family members when they get sick,” Newsom said in a statement announcing his action.
Continuous sick leave is different from sick days. Many states require sick leave, and the US guarantees 12 weeks leave through FMLA, though it’s unpaid, with the government picking up payments after that (iirc). Regardless, a metric ton of companies offer paid long-term sick leave by just carrying insurance policies that pay out your salary if you have a doctor’s note.
I have unlimited vacation time which also applies to sick days, and the company pushes people to use it. I’m looking to have taken around six weeks this year.
I’m aware this is not a common occurrence, but it’s not as though there’s absolutely no laws around this and nobody has paid sick days at all.
Even my shitty little country has universal healthcare and paid sick leave. Employees can call in sick for couple of days, after which they have to open up a sick leave with the doctor. At this point government picks up paying them good chunk of their salary. After two months there’s a mandatory panel of doctors meeting which decides if leave needs to be extended further.