New California Bill May Give Restaurant and Bar Workers Paid Sick Leave for COVID-19

Fry cooks, baristas, and restaurant and bar industry employees of all kinds will likely be able to collect at least 40 hours of sick leave for missing work due to COVID or for taking care of a family member who suffered from the disease this year. The Sacramento Bee reports that under the new bill passed by the state legislature Monday, many workers in the state will be eligible to receive paid leave for a number of reasons, such as if they were experiencing COVID symptoms, had a vaccine appointment, or were caring for a family member or child due to the impact of COVID. The bill applies to all workers at companies with more than 26 employees and covers time taken off between January 1 and September 30 this year.

Next the bill heads to Governor Newsom’s desk to be signed – but some business owners worry about the impact of legislation; the California Restaurant Association told the Bee the bill would be an additional burden on the already struggling industry since the money for remittances will come from employers, not the state or federal government. “Restaurants were the first to be closed during the pandemic and will be the last to recover from the devastating financial impact of these closures,” Katie Hansen, the California Restaurant Association’s senior legislative director, told members of the assembly budget committee. [Sacramento Bee]