California Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced a deal with state lawmakers that
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a deal Tuesday with state lawmakers that would see paid supplemental COVID-19 sick leave return for employees after it was allowed to lapse at the end of September.
The announcement comes as the highly contagious omicron variant is still driving infections across the state and after labor leaders and legislatorspushedfor the supplemental leave to be reinstated this month.
“By extending sick leave to frontline workers with COVID and providing support for California businesses, we can help protect the health of our workforce, while also ensuring that businesses and our economy are able to thrive,” Newsom said in a joint statement along with Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood (Los Angeles County).
The three said they had agreed on a framework to give workers access to COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave through Sept. 30. State law only requires a minimum of three days of paid sick leave otherwise.
The deal would make supplemental paid sick leave retroactive to Jan. 1 and would expire Sept. 30. It would provide employers with 26 or more employees with up to 40 hours of additional paid sick leave along with another 40 hours if an employee or family member they care for tests positive.
Workers can also be paid to stay home because of infection or exposure in some circumstances under temporary workplacerulesestablished separately by the Cal/OSHA Standards Board.
Labor groups and the California Teachers Association applauded the announcement, saying it will stop working people from having to choose between staying home while sick without pay or showing up while contagious and potentially spreading the virus at work.
“This leave will allow school employees to quarantine, recover and return to their students and classrooms,” said California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd.
一些州议员包括参议员大卫科尔特大学se, D-San Jose, also lauded the move as a way to limit the spread of the virus at workplaces.
“Workers recovering from COVID-19 not only need the time to physically and mentally recover, they also need guaranteed leave to help prevent the spread to their co-workers,” Cortese said in a statement.
Business groups have pointed to those rules as one way employers are shouldering the expense of paying workers to stay home.
Federal funding for the paid leave lapsed at the end of September, and it appears employers will have to come up with the money themselves with assistance from the state.
As part of the agreed-upon framework, lawmakers said that they plan to take early budget action to restore business tax credits and that “the framework includes significant funding to bolster testing capacity, accelerate vaccination and booster efforts, support frontline workers, strengthen the health care system, and battle misinformation.”
Chronicle staff writer Dustin Gardiner contributed to this report.
Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email:chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.comTwitter:@ChaseDiFelice
