Can My Employer Deny Sick Leave in California? 

What Sherman Oaks and Los Angeles Employees Should Know

You wake up sick, call your employer, and ask to use the sick time you have available. Instead of simply approving the time off, your employer tells you that you cannot miss your shift, asks you to find someone to cover for you, or warns that the absence could count against you.

If you work in Sherman Oaks or elsewhere in Los Angeles, you may be wondering: Can my employer legally deny my sick leave?

In many situations, the answer is no.

California employees have legal protections when it comes to earning and using paid sick leave. Employees who work within the City of Los Angeles may also be entitled to additional protections under local law.Here is what employees should know.

How Much Paid Sick Leave Are California Employees Entitled To?

Under California’s paid sick leave law, most employees are entitled to earn and use paid sick leave. Generally, California employers must allow eligible employees to use at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave each year, whichever provides the employee with more leave.

This protection applies to many:

• Full-time employees
• Part-time employees
• Temporary employees

Generally, an employee must work for the same employer in California for at least 30 days within a year and complete 90 days of employment before using paid sick leave.

Employers may provide sick leave in different ways. Some provide the entire amount at the beginning of the year, while others allow employees to accrue sick time as they work. An employer can also provide a more generous policy than California law requires.

Los Angeles Employees May Be Entitled to More Sick Leave

Employees working in Sherman Oaks should pay particular attention to local law because Sherman Oaks is within the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles has its own paid sick leave requirements. Employees covered by the Los Angeles ordinance may generally use up to 48 hours of paid sick leave per year. An employer may provide those hours at the beginning of the year or allow employees to accrue sick leave at a rate of at least one hour for every 30 hours worked.

When sick leave is accrued, unused time generally carries over. Los Angeles employers may cap the accrued balance, but the cap generally cannot be lower than 72 hours. That means an employee working in Sherman Oaks may have greater sick leave rights than an employee covered only by California’s statewide minimum.

When Can You Use Paid Sick Leave?

Paid sick leave is not limited to being home with the flu.

Depending on the circumstances, California employees may use protected sick leave for reasons including:

• An illness or injury
• Medical diagnosis or treatment
• Preventive medical care
• Caring for certain family members
• Certain qualifying circumstances involving victims of violence or crime

California law also allows employees to request paid sick leave orally or in writing.

If the need for leave is foreseeable, an employer may require reasonable advance notice. When the need is unexpected, employees generally must provide notice as soon as practicable.

Can My Employer Deny Sick Leave If I Have Hours Available?

An employer generally cannot simply refuse to let an employee use accrued and available sick leave for a legally protected reason. California law specifically prohibits employers from denying employees the right to use accrued sick days when they are entitled to do so.

For example, potential problems may arise if an employer tells an employee:

• “You can’t use sick time today.”
• “You have to find someone to cover your shift first.”
• “If you call out sick, you’ll receive an attendance point.”
• “You can take the day off, but it won’t be paid even though you have sick hours available.”

Whether a particular denial violates the law depends on the circumstances, including the employee’s eligibility, available leave balance, reason for the leave, workplace location, and the employer’s leave policy. But having a busy workplace or being short-staffed does not automatically allow an employer to disregard California’s sick leave protections.

Can My Employer Make Me Find Someone to Cover My Shift?

California law generally prohibits employers from requiring an employee to find a replacement worker as a condition of using protected paid sick leave. Your employer may need to find someone else to cover the shift, but staffing the workplace is generally the employer’s responsibility. If you are being told that you cannot use legally protected sick time unless another employee agrees to work your shift, it may be worth taking a closer look at your employer’s policy.

Can My Employer Give Me an Attendance Point for Calling Out Sick?

This can be another warning sign.California law generally prohibits employers from disciplining employees for properly using accrued paid sick leave. That means an attendance policy cannot necessarily be used to punish an employee for an absence that is protected by California sick leave law.

For example, an employer may potentially violate the law if properly protected sick leave leads to:

• Attendance points
• A written warning
• Reduced hours
• Suspension
• Demotion
• Termination

The specific facts matter, particularly when an employee has taken additional absences that were not protected.

Can My Employer Ask for a Doctor’s Note?

This question is more complicated than many employees realize. Los Angeles law permits employers to require reasonable documentation for an absence when paid sick leave is being used.

However, documentation requirements still must comply with applicable California and Los Angeles law. Whether a particular request is reasonable can depend on the facts.

Employees should be cautious about assuming that every request for medical documentation is automatically legal or automatically illegal. If an employer appears to be using documentation requirements primarily to discourage employees from using sick leave, additional legal issues may arise.

What If My Employer Says We Don’t Have “Sick Leave” Because We Have PTO?

That does not necessarily mean your employer is violating the law.

An employer may use a combined paid time off policy instead of maintaining a separate sick leave bank, provided the policy satisfies applicable sick leave requirements.

For Los Angeles employees, for example, an employer that provides qualifying paid leave or PTO of at least 48 hours may not necessarily have to provide an additional separate 48-hour sick leave bank. The important question is not simply what your employer calls the benefit. The question is whether the employer’s actual policy provides the amount of leave and protections required by law.

Can My Employer Fire Me for Using Sick Leave?

Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees for exercising protected sick leave rights. California law prohibits employers from firing, threatening, demoting, suspending, or otherwise discriminating against an employee for using or attempting to use accrued sick leave. Los Angeles law also protects employees from retaliation for exercising their rights under the City’s paid sick leave requirements.

Potential retaliation may include:

• Termination shortly after taking protected leave
• Suddenly reducing an employee’s hours
• Unwarranted disciplinary action
• Threatening an employee for requesting sick time
• Penalizing an employee through an attendance policy
• Treating an employee differently after they raise concerns about sick leave

Not every negative employment decision following an absence is necessarily retaliation. However, the timing and circumstances surrounding an employer’s actions can matter.

What Should I Do If My Employer Denied My Sick Leave?

If you believe your employer is denying sick leave that you are legally entitled to use, documentation can be important.

Consider keeping copies of:

• Your sick leave request
• Text messages or emails with your supervisor
• Your employee handbook or sick leave policy
• Pay stubs showing your sick leave balance
• Work schedules
• Attendance warnings or disciplinary notices
• Any messages telling you to find your own replacement
• Communications regarding termination or reduced hours

Whenever possible, keep important employment records somewhere you can access outside of your workplace email or company computer. You may also be able to file a complaint with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office or, for violations of Los Angeles requirements, the Los Angeles Office of Wage Standards.

Sick Leave Is a Workplace Right, Not Simply an Employer Courtesy

Employees should not have to guess whether they are allowed to use sick time they have legally earned. California and Los Angeles both provide protections governing paid sick leave, and employers cannot simply disregard those protections because an absence is inconvenient.

If you work in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, or the surrounding Southern California area and your employer denied your sick leave, punished you for using it, reduced your hours, or terminated your employment after you requested protected leave, there may be more to the situation than a disagreement over attendance.

Fraigun Law Group represents California employees in workplace disputes. Contact our office to discuss what happened and learn more about the rights that may apply to your situation.