California employers must give most workers at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave per year as of January 1, 2024, under the state's paid sick leave law. Workers earn one hour for every 30 hours worked, and employees qualify after 30 days with the same employer within a year.
The Department of Industrial Relations, the state labor agency, publishes the rules in guidance that most employers can read in an afternoon. The floor applies to nearly every workplace in California. Employers with richer plans keep them, and cities with their own sick leave ordinances add rules on top of the state minimum.
How Much Leave Must an Employer Provide?
Start with the floor. Starting January 1, 2024, the department requires employers to provide at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave each year, whichever is more. The hours matter: a worker on 10-hour shifts must be allowed at least 50 hours, because five 10-hour days add up that way. That example comes straight from the department.
You have two main ways to provide the leave. Under an accrual plan, a worker earns one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Under an up-front policy, you grant the full 40 hours or five days at the start of each year. A plan that offers more than the minimum is always allowed.
What Caps Apply to Accrual and Carryover?
The caps changed on January 1, 2024, through SB 616. Before that date, an employer could limit use to 24 hours or three days per year and total accrual to 48 hours or six days. Now the law lets you cap use at 40 hours or five days in a year, and total accrued leave at 80 hours or ten days.
Carryover still applies under an accrual plan. Unused leave rolls into the next year until the employee reaches the accrual cap. You do not have to pay out unused sick leave when a worker leaves. If the same employee returns within 12 months, however, the accrued balance must be restored.
When Do Workers Qualify, and How Are They Paid?
A worker qualifies by working at least 30 days within a year in California for the same employer, and the employer may require a 90-day employment period before the first use. Part-time, temporary and per diem employees count. So do in-home supportive services providers, though the law carries narrow exceptions.
Payment follows the worker's normal rate. For non-exempt employees, sick leave is paid at the regular non-overtime hourly rate. When hours varied, the department's formula divides total compensation for the prior 90 days, excluding overtime premiums, by the non-overtime hours worked in that period. Sick leave pay is due no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period after the leave.
What About Notice, Exemptions and Local Rules?
The leave itself comes with rules. An employee must give advance notice for planned leave, such as a scheduled medical visit, and notice as soon as practical for unforeseeable illness. You cannot require a worker to find a replacement before using leave, and the law's anti-retaliation provisions protect employees who take it.
Exemptions exist, but they are narrow. Flight deck and cabin crew employed by an air carrier are exempt if they receive equivalent compensated time off. Some collective bargaining agreements in industries like construction partially exempt employers, provided the agreement meets specified provisions, including premium overtime pay and a regular rate at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage. We covered a connected angle in What the Minimum Wage Machine Looks Like From a Small Business.
Local ordinances complicate the map. Cities can require more generous leave, and when they do, you must follow whichever rule is most generous to the worker. On specific topics, such as paystub statements and payment timing, state law preempts local rules as of January 1, 2024.
Conclusion: The Cost of a Sick Day
The requirements read as arithmetic until someone gets sick. A line cook in Oakland stays home with the flu and still gets paid for the shift. A cafe owner in Sacramento frontloads five days every January and skips the accrual math. A warehouse worker in Fontana uses a half day for a child's doctor visit, and the paycheck covers those hours. The law turns those ordinary days into a fixed cost that every California employer plans for. For related coverage, see Five Years After Prop 22, What a Gig Driver Actually Gets Paid.
