Here’s some more facts on that San Francisco mandatory paid leave law, the first law of its kind in the country—local, state or federal—to mandate that employers have to give their employees paid time off for sick leave.

And speaking of the facts—the facts of the San Fran law are that companies must give their employees at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours that they work—for an ultimate total of between 40 to 72 hours of paid sick leave, depending on how large the employer is.

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The new paid sick-leave law—as these laws seem to be called now—was passed by the city’s voters back in November 2006. About 61 percent of the voting population OKed the law. The law as it was passed mandates that all employers must give their employees paid sick leave if they work within the city.

As with many of these new labor laws that seem to be getting passed—such as new health care requirements for employers or the increases of the minimum wage (or even these living wage laws that are getting passed in such places as Maryland)—small employers like us often say that these laws will cost them the most, that such laws will take their toll on small employers and make it harder for them to hire new employees, or even keep the employees that we already have.

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An employer may not single out pregnancy-related conditions for special procedures to determine an employee’s ability to work. However, if an employer requires its employees to submit a doctor’s statement concerning their inability to work before granting leave or paying sick benefits, the employer may require employees affected by pregnancy-related conditions to submit such statements.
If an employee is temporarily unable to perform her job due to pregnancy, the employer must treat her the same as any other temporarily disabled employee. For example, if the employer allows temporarily disabled employees to modify tasks, perform alternative assignments or take disability leave or leave without pay, the employer also must allow an employee who is temporarily disabled due to pregnancy to do the same.
Pregnant employees must be permitted to work as long as they are able to perform their jobs. If an employee has been absent from work as a result of a pregnancy-related condition and recovers, her employer may not require her to remain on leave until the baby’s birth. An employer also may not have a rule that prohibits an employee from returning to work for a predetermined length of time after childbirth.
Employers must hold open a job for a pregnancy-related absence the same length of time jobs are held open for employees on sick or disability leave.

Actually, the federal does not required companies for paid sick leave. Some companies may be subjected to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), this act does require unpaid sick leave because FMLA provide for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a certain medical situations for either the employee or a member of the employee’s immediate family. But in some cases paid leave may be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave.

Employees who are eligible to take FMLA leave is those who have worked for their employer for at least 1 year, and have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the previous year, and work at company that has at least 50 employees employed by the employer within 75 miles.

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