Background

Beginning in 2015 California introduced a new paid sick leave law. In 2016 Washington introduced a very similar law as well - with one major difference.

Please Note: The amounts/percentages used in this article are only examples. Please make sure to calculate the values yourself to confirm they are accurate.

California Sick Leave

As a result of the California Paid Sick Leave law, employers are required to follow guidelines with new requirements for paying sick leave to those who may not have previously qualified.

In response, we’ve added functionality to AccountEdge to help you accrue sick time with automatic limits. To use this feature:

Create a new Payroll Category>Accrual for tracking the required sick time and set a limit using the new Accrual Limit section.

NOTE:

• For hourly employees - You could define the number of hours per Pay Period, use a percentage of Gross Hours, or calculate the number of hours to accrue per Pay Period.
• For salaried employees - The accrual would be setup per Pay Period (not a % of hours).
  • Example 1: Your salaried employees are paid every two weeks and they work 40 hours a week. You would put Type of Accrual Equals: 2.66 hours per pay period.
  • Example 2: Your salaried employees are paid every week and they work 37.5 hours a week. You would put Type of Accrual Equals: 1.25 hours per pay period

More Details on the California Paid Sick Leave Law

An employee who, on or after July 1, 2015, works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the beginning of employment, is entitled to paid sick leave. Employees, including part-time and temporary employees, will earn at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. Accrual begins on the first day of employment or July 1, 2015, whichever is later.

Exceptions: Employees covered by qualifying collective bargaining agreements, In-Home Supportive Services providers, and certain employees of air carriers are not covered by this law.

An employer may limit the amount of paid sick leave an employee can use in one year to 24 hours or three days. Accrued paid sick leave may be carried over to the next year, but it may be capped at 48 hours or six days.

Find more details here: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/ab1522.html
FAQ: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Paid_Sick_Leave.htm

Washington Sick Leave

Washington's new Sick Leave law will go into effect on January 1, 2017.

The difference is that Washington's Sick Leave law has no cap on the number of possible hours accrued. An employee begins accruing one hour for every 40 hours worked as soon as they begin working.

If you do not already have one you want to create a new Accrual Payroll Category that has no limit. For example, your accrual might look like this:

Click here to learn how to set up Washington's January 2019 Paid Family & Medical Leave Act

NOTE:

• For hourly employees - You could define the number of hours per Pay Period, use a percentage of Gross Hours, or calculate the number of hours to accrue per Pay Period.
• For salaried employees - The accrual would be setup per Pay Period (not a % of hours).
  • Example 1: Your salaried employees are paid every two weeks and they work 40 hours a week. You would put Type of Accrual Equals: 2 hours per pay period.
  • Example 2: Your salaried employees are paid every week and they work 37.5 hours a week. You would put Type of Accrual Equals: .938 (rounded) hours per pay period