BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 304
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
304 (Gonzalez)
As Amended June 2, 2015
2/3 vote. Urgency
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Labor |5-1 |Roger Hernández, |Harper |
| | |Chu, Low, McCarty, | |
| | |Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |11-5 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Calderon, Eggman, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, |Wagner |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Makes a number of changes to legislation enacted last
year related to paid sick days. Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides that the definition of "employee" does not include
AB 304
Page 2
specified retired annuitants.
2)Specifies that the law applies to an employee who works in
California "for the same employer" for 30 or more days within a
year.
3)Provides that an employer may use a different accrual method,
other than providing one hour per every 30 hours worked,
provided that the accrual is on a regular basis so that employee
has no less than 24 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off
by the 120th calendar day of employment or each calendar year,
or each 12-month basis.
4)Provides that an employer may satisfy the accrual requirements
of this section by providing not less than 24 hours or three
days of paid sick leave that is available to the employee to use
by the completion of his or her 120th calendar day of
employment.
5)Amends the law to provide that an employer is not required to
provide additional paid sick days if the employer has a paid
leave policy or paid time off policy, the employer makes
available an amount of leave that may be used for the same
purposes and under the same conditions of the existing paid sick
days law, and the policy does either of the following:
a) Satisfies the accrual, carry over, and use requirements of
the law.
b) Provides no less than 24 hours or three days of paid sick
leave, or equivalent paid leave or paid time off, for
employee use at the beginning of each year of employment,
calendar year, or 12-month period.
AB 304
Page 3
6)Provides that an employer is not required to reinstate accrued
paid time off to a rehired employee that was paid out at the
time of termination, resignation, or separation of employment.
7)Provides that if an employer provides unlimited paid sick leave
or unlimited paid time off, the employer may satisfy a specified
written notice requirement of existing law by indicating on the
notice or the employee's itemized wage statement that such leave
is "unlimited."
8)Delays application of provisions related to the inclusion of the
amount of paid sick leave available on itemized wage statements
or separate writings until January 21, 2016, for employers in
the broadcasting and motion picture industries.
9)Provides that paid sick time for nonexempt employees shall be
calculated in the same manner as the regular rate of pay for the
workweek in which the employee uses paid sick time, whether or
not the employee actually works overtime in that workweek. Paid
sick time for exempt employees shall be calculated in the same
manner as the employer calculates wages for other forms of paid
time leave.
10)Provides that an employer is not obligated to inquire into or
record the purpose for which an employee uses paid leave or paid
time off.
11)Provides that the provisions of this bill are severable, as
specified.
12)Makes other related changes.
AB 304
Page 4
13)Contains an urgency clause.
EXISTING LAW provides that an employee who, on or after July 1,
2015, works in California for 30 or more days is entitled to paid
sick days for specified purposes, to be accrued at a rate of not
less than one hour for every 30 hours worked.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill will result in savings to state and local
governments due to the exemption of retired annuitants from sick
leave requirements and other clarifications of law related to
accrual and provision of paid sick leave.
COMMENTS: AB 1522 (Gonzalez), Chapter 317, Statutes of 2014,
enacted the Health Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 to
provide paid sick days to specified California employees effective
July 1, 2015. AB 1522 was landmark legislation that extended the
right to paid sick days to an estimated 6.5 million California
workers.
This bill makes a number of changes to the legislation passed last
year.
According to the author, this bill aims to improve and ease
implementation of California's new paid sick leave law. Last
year, AB 1522 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown - giving
more than 6.5 million workers the right to accrue no less than
three paid sick days a year. However, the passage of such a
sweeping workplace benefit has spurred a robust public discussion
regarding the implementation of the law. As such, the author
wishes to clarify a handful of the law's requirements before the
AB 304
Page 5
law goes into effect on July 1, 2015.
A coalition of employers, including the California Chamber of
Commerce, state that while this bill purports to be a "clean-up"
bill, it in fact substantively amends the law to eliminate the
opportunity for an employer to provide a more beneficial, accrual
based paid sick leave or paid time off policy to their employees.
Specifically, they state that many employers in California already
offer more generous paid time off or paid sick leave to their
employees. However, most employers allow employees to accrue this
time off according to pay period rather than hours worked as it is
easier to track and administer. This type of policy, which is
more beneficial to an employee, would be deemed non-compliant by
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091 FN: 0000527