California Labor Code 245: Paid Sick Leave Accrual and Use

California Labor Code Section 245, the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, gives nearly every worker in the state paid sick leave. Since January 1, 2024, the minimum is 40 hours or five days per year, up from the original 24 hours (three days).¹ You can use it for your own health, a family member’s health, or if you are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The rules below cover who qualifies, how hours accrue, how much you get paid per sick hour, and what to do if your employer refuses.

Who the Law Covers

You qualify if you work in California for the same employer for at least 30 days within a year of starting. That includes full-time, part-time, per diem, temporary, and seasonal workers, and it applies regardless of how big the business is.¹

Four groups are fully exempt:

Flight deck and cabin crew subject to the federal Railway Labor Act, provided they receive equivalent compensated time off.
Public-sector retired annuitants working for a government entity without reinstatement into their retirement system.
Railroad employees as defined by 45 U.S.C. § 351(d).
Construction workers under a collective bargaining agreement that meets specific wage, overtime, and sick-leave conditions.

Other workers under a qualifying CBA are partially exempt. Their agreement must expressly address wages, hours, paid sick days, binding arbitration, premium overtime, and a regular hourly rate at least 30 percent above the state minimum wage. If a CBA falls short on any element, the state law applies in full.²

What You Can Use Sick Leave For

Paid sick leave covers your own medical diagnosis, treatment, preventive care, or recovery from an existing condition. It also covers care for a family member with those same needs, and time off if you are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.¹

“Family member” is defined broadly:

Child (biological, adopted, foster, stepchild, legal ward, or a child you stand in loco parentis to)
Parent (biological, adoptive, foster, stepparent, legal guardian, or someone who stood in loco parentis to you)
Spouse or registered domestic partner
Grandparent
Grandchild
Sibling
One designated person you identify at the time of the leave request

The designated-person category was added by SB 616. The person does not have to be a blood relative. Your employer may limit you to one designated person per 12-month period but cannot reject the person you choose.²

How You Earn the Hours

Employers can meet the requirement in one of three ways.

Standard Accrual

You earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, starting your first day. Salaried exempt employees are treated as working 40 hours per week (or their normal workweek if shorter) for accrual purposes.³

Upfront Lump Sum

The employer front-loads the full 40 hours at the start of each year, calendar year, or 12-month period. When this method is used, no accrual tracking or carryover is required.³

Alternative Accrual

An employer can use a different schedule so long as you have at least 24 hours accrued by your 120th calendar day of employment and at least 40 hours by your 200th calendar day.³

When You Can Use It, Increments, and Carryover

You can start using accrued sick leave on your 90th day of employment. Before that, hours accrue but cannot be tapped.³

Your employer can set a reasonable minimum increment for each use, but that minimum cannot exceed two hours. So if you need to slip out an hour early for an appointment, a two-hour minimum is lawful and a four-hour minimum is not.

Even if you’ve accrued more, the employer can cap your actual use at 40 hours or five days per year. Under the accrual method, unused hours must carry over into the following year, but the employer can cap total accumulated leave at 80 hours or ten days. Once you hit that ceiling, accrual pauses until you use some hours and drop back below the cap. If your employer front-loads the full 40 hours each period, no carryover is required.³

How a Sick Hour Is Paid

What you receive per hour of sick leave depends on your classification.

Nonexempt employees are paid at the regular rate of pay for the workweek in which the leave is taken, calculated the same way as overtime: total wages (excluding overtime premiums) divided by total hours worked in the full pay periods of the prior 90 days.
Exempt employees are paid the same way the employer calculates wages for other paid leave. For a full-time salaried worker, that usually means the annual salary divided by 52 weeks and then by five days.

If your employer uses a general Paid Time Off bank instead of a separate sick-leave account, that policy satisfies the law provided it meets or exceeds every accrual, usage, and pay-rate rule above.³

How to Request Sick Leave

You can make the request orally or in writing. For foreseeable absences like a scheduled surgery or dental appointment, give advance notice. For sudden illness or emergencies, notify your employer as soon as practical.⁴

You generally do not need a doctor’s note. An employer cannot deny sick leave solely because you lack a medical certification. If the employer has a reasonable basis to believe the leave is not being used for a valid purpose, it may ask for documentation before paying, and the reasonableness of both sides’ conduct decides any dispute.

What Happens When You Leave the Job

Your employer does not have to pay out accrued, unused sick leave when you quit, are fired, or retire. That’s different from vacation pay, which California requires employers to pay out at termination.³

If you return to the same employer within 12 months, previously accrued and unused sick leave must be reinstated, and you can begin using it immediately while continuing to accrue more. The one exception is if the employer already cashed out your PTO (including the sick leave portion) at separation. After 12 months away, the employer owes you nothing from your prior accrual. Seasonal workers cycling in and out of the same employer should track their separation dates carefully.

What Your Employer Has to Tell You and Keep

Each pay period, your employer must give you written notice of the sick leave available to you, either on your itemized wage statement or in a separate document with your paycheck.³

Every workplace must display a poster describing the right to accrue and use paid sick leave, the amount provided, the terms of use, the prohibition on retaliation, and your right to file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner.⁴

Employers must keep records of hours worked and sick days accrued and used for at least three years. This one matters: if the employer fails to keep adequate records, the law presumes you are entitled to the maximum accrual, and the burden shifts to the employer to prove otherwise.

If Your Employer Denies Leave or Retaliates

An employer cannot fire, threaten, demote, suspend, or otherwise punish you for using sick leave, trying to use it, filing a complaint, cooperating with an investigation, or opposing a policy that violates the law.⁴

The Labor Commissioner enforces the statute. If sick leave is unlawfully withheld, the administrative penalty is the dollar amount withheld multiplied by three, or $250, whichever is greater, up to $4,000 total. If the violation also causes other harm (such as termination or discipline), the employer faces an additional $50 per day the violation continues, again capped at $4,000. The state can separately assess $50 per day per affected employee for investigation costs. In a civil action brought by the Labor Commissioner or Attorney General, the employer can be ordered to pay liquidated damages on top of back pay and reinstatement.⁵

To pursue a claim, file with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, also known as the Labor Commissioner’s Office. The DLSE investigates, can issue citations, and may pursue administrative action or civil litigation on your behalf.⁶ You don’t need a lawyer to file, though one may help if you’ve been terminated or lost significant wages. Reports are kept confidential to the maximum extent allowed by law, and the Labor Commissioner can order temporary relief to preserve the status quo while the investigation runs.

Local Ordinances That May Give You More

Several California cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Santa Monica, have their own paid sick leave ordinances. Some are more generous than the state minimum, and if you work in one of these cities you’re entitled to whichever law gives you more leave.

As of January 1, 2024, state law preempts local ordinances on specific topics: lending of sick leave between employees, pay-stub statements, pay-rate calculation, advance-notice requirements for foreseeable leave, timing of payment, and whether unused leave must be paid out at termination. On those points, the state rule controls even where a local ordinance differs.⁴

When Federal Leave Laws Also Apply

Section 245 sits alongside federal protections for longer absences. The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees at companies with 50 or more workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for serious health conditions.⁷ Because FMLA leave is unpaid, employers often require, or employees choose, to use California paid sick leave concurrently with FMLA to keep some income flowing.

If your condition qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers with 15 or more employees may have to provide additional unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation, even after FMLA runs out, unless doing so would cause undue hardship. There is no fixed cap on ADA leave; it depends on the job and the disability.⁸ California’s own Family Rights Act and state disability insurance can stack with or run alongside these federal protections, so the combination that gives you the most depends on your employer’s size, your length of service, and your specific condition.

1
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 245 – Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014
2
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 245.5 – Definitions
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California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 246 – Accrual and Use of Paid Sick Days
4
Department of Industrial Relations. California Paid Sick Leave: Frequently Asked Questions
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California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 248.5 – Enforcement and Penalties
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Department of Industrial Relations. Division of Labor Standards Enforcement – Home Page
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U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act
8
ADA National Network. Work-Leave, the ADA, and the FMLA