New COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave obligations for 2022

Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation Wednesday to reinstate supplemental paid sick leave (SPSL) benefits, providing up to 80 hours of paid time off for COVID-19 related illnesses and absences for workers at companies with 26 or more employees. The law becomes effective on Feb 19.

By Feb 19, employers must also include a separate line item on employees’ paystubs that reflects the amount of COVID-19 SPSL the employee has used to date as well as display a poster about the law -- the poster will be available at the Labor Commissioner’s website no later than Feb 16. Employers are expressly authorized to provide the poster via email to their remote workforce.

The law contains a retroactive provision so employees can request reclassification of time off for qualifying reasons since the beginning of this year.

The Press Democrat has posted an article that provides a break down of this new law.