Executive Summary
Overview: San Diego enacted a measure raising the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 per hour and requiring employers to grant paid sick leave.
Employer Coverage: The minimum wage requirement applies to all private sector employers, but the minimum wage is owed only to employees who work at least two or more hours per calendar week within city limits.
Effective Date: The wage increase will be phased in over a three-year period as follows: January 2015 - $9.75; January 2016 - $10.50; and January 2017 - $11.50. The minimum wage will then increase on an annual basis as determined by a Consumer Price Index. The earned sick leave provisions of the ordinance are effective on April 1, 2015.
Action Required: Contact your Human Resource Business Partner as needed to discuss any potential compliance concerns. We will be including a model San Diego sick leave policy in our model employee handbook in the future
The Details
The San Diego City Council recently overrode the mayor’s veto of an ordinance raising the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 per hour and requiring employers to grant paid sick leave.
The Minimum Wage Increase
The wage increase will be phased in over a three-year period as follows: January 2015 - $9.75; January 2016 - $10.50; and January 2017 - $11.50. The minimum wage will then increase on an annual basis as determined by a Consumer Price Index.
This increase is slightly more that California’s state minimum wage, which is currently $9.00 per hour and is slated to increase to $10.00 in January 2016.
The ordinance applies to all private sector employers, and the minimum wage is owed to employees who work at least two or more hours per calendar week within city limits.
The Sick Leave Requirement
San Diego has become the tenth jurisdiction requiring employers to provide employees with paid sick leave. The earned sick leave provisions of the ordinance are effective on April 1, 2015.
Employee Eligibility and Sick Leave Accrual
Employees who work at least two hours in one or more calendar weeks within the geographic boundaries of San Diego accrue sick leave at the rate of one hour for every thirty hours worked within San Diego, without a cap. Employees begin to accrue sick leave at the outset of employment or on April 1, 2015, whichever is later, and can begin using accrued sick leave on the ninetieth calendar day of employment or April 1, 2015, whichever is later.
Use of Sick Leave
An employee may use earned sick time for the employee’s medical treatment and “other medical reasons;” providing care or assistance to a family member with an illness, injury or medical condition; when the employee’s workplace or the school of the employee’s child is closed due to a public health emergency; or for “safe time,” which is time off to engage in defined activities relating to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
An employer may limit an employee’s use of earned sick leave to forty hours in a benefit year. Unused sick leave must be carried over to the following year. An employer may set a reasonable minimum increment for the use of earned sick leave, not to exceed two hours.
The ordinance prohibits an employer from requiring an employee, as a condition of using earned sick leave, to search for or find a replacement worker to cover the hours during which such employee is using earned sick leave.
Employees’ Notice Requirements
For foreseeable leave, an employer can require up to seven days notice. For unforeseeable leave, an employee must give as much notice as is practicable.
Employer Notice Requirements
An employer must post a notice informing employees of their rights to earned sick leave and the minimum wage. Upon hire, employees must be given information concerning earned sick time and notice of the “[e]mployer’s name, address, and telephone number.” The city is required to publish notices for employer use prior to the effective date.
As always, please contact your Human Resource Business Partner if you have any questions.
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Produced in cooperation with Jackson Lewis P.C. This content provides practical information concerning the subject matter covered and is provided with the understanding that ADP is not rendering legal advice.
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