Gonzalez's Sick Leave Bill Signed By Governor

Jim Fessenden was quoted in the San Diego Daily Transcript Article "Gonzalez's Sick Leave Bill Signed By Governor" featured on September 10, 2014.

The article discusses Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (AB 1522) that was recently signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Jim said companies that already offer paid sick leave could be subject to violations if they're not careful.

"They have to make sure they don’t have caps that are less than what the law allows," he said. "It's going to require a lot of employers to go back and dust off their employee handbooks and make sure their policy complies with the letter of the law."

For example, companies that currently offer five paid sick days will need to update their policy to allow for a maximum of six paid sick days a year.

Also, companies who think their paid time off policy or vacation benefits might satisfy the law's obligations need to make sure those policies have the right limitations, according to Jim.

"It just opens the door to potential litigation and generally increases the cost of doing business in California," he said.

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