California employers will be required to provide their employees with five days of paid sick leave under legislation passed by the state legislature

Wednesday

an increase from the current three-day requirement.

While similar efforts to expand paid sick leave have stalled in the past, politically powerful unions are banking that the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace will be enough to push the government to act to connect. Gavin Newsom will sign the bill this time.

But a long list of organizations representing employers opposed the bill, also pointing to the pandemic. They warned that small businesses still reeling from the economic impact of the virus cannot afford to provide more paid leave.

Essential workers were hit hardest by the pandemic, many of whom were low earners who had to choose between losing much-needed wages or braving exposure to the virus.

California workers, including those who work in our grocery stores, packaging facilities, pharmacies and beyond, deserve to be able to take the time off they need without being forced to choose between going to work while sick and putting their families’ livelihoods at risk. game,” said Kathy. Finn, president of UFCW Local 770, a supporter of the bill, said in a statement.

The state’s current three-day standard is “simply not enough to protect public health” as some diseases can remain contagious longer, said Dr. Curtis Chan, deputy health officer for San Mateo County.

“We have to ask ourselves: Do we want someone with a severe cough, whether it’s COVID, the flu, RSV, or whooping cough, working in your daycare, in your children’s classroom, in factories, or in nursing homes?” Chan said at a news conference last month promoting the legislation. “Sick people need time to rest, heal and isolate themselves from others.”

Even in Democrat-controlled countries

union-friendly

The bill, SB 616 from Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), faced hurdles in the legislature. It initially proposed requiring seven days of paid sick leave, but this was watered down earlier this month in a crucial budget committee in the Legislature.

The proposal

supported by the California Labor Federation and SEIU California

comes as workers across the state have gone on strike demanding better wages and benefits

Influential business groups opposed the bill

based n

Concerns are raised about the costs, with the California Chamber of Commerce calling it a “job killer” and saying employers could be forced to cut jobs and raise the price of goods and services for consumers to cope.

Opponents of the bill pointed to forced closures and new regulations imposed due to COVID-19. During the worst of the pandemic, Newsom signed legislation requiring employers to provide up to two weeks of supplemental sick leave to employees diagnosed with COVID-19 and required to quarantine. Those requirements have expired.

“The hope that business will pick up after COVID-19 has not materialized for many and these entrepreneurs would have had to raise prices, cut jobs or close,” the Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. “While another paid benefit may not seem important on its own, this mandate must be viewed in the context of all other leaves and paid benefits in California, especially the special paid leaves required from 2020 to 2023 due to COVID.”

Chan, who had hoped for a seven-day requirement, said the five-day proposal is better than what the state now offers but is still “often not enough for many people to recover from illness and for many workplaces to prevent infections to prevent.”

Critics of the bill said the state should instead incentivize employers to offer more sick days by reducing costs in other areas, rather than issuing a universal mandate.

Gonzalez said the pandemic was a good test case for extended sick leave, and the temporary policy is proof it can succeed without decimating businesses.

“The economy didn’t fall apart. The state still remained healthy,” Gonzalez said. “And thankfully, more importantly, the staff felt supported.”

More than 2.7 million Californians lost their jobs during the pandemic-induced recession, and some businesses never recovered. But the state’s strict public health measures protected the overall economy, driving down virus rates and allowing for a faster reopening, UCLA economists said.

The

state budget

also flourished during COVID-19, as California’s tax structure relies heavily on high earners who have not suffered financially.

There is no federal law requiring paid sick leave. California implemented its annual minimum of three days of paid sick leave in 2014. The benefit can be used to recover from physical and mental illness, to attend medical appointments or to care for sick family members.

Most states do not require paid sick leave, including Florida and Montana. Of the 15 states that do, some offer more than California, including New York, which requires some companies to offer seven days of paid leave, and New Mexico, which passed a law last year allowing employees up to eight paid sick days.

Some California cities require more than the state standard, including Los Angeles, where employers must provide at least six paid days of sick leave.

California’s current paid sick leave mandate, signed into law nearly a decade ago, came after a long battle in the state Legislature, with unions divided over who should benefit and concerns raised about the costs for businesses and the state.

Similar efforts to expand paid sick leave beyond the hard-fought three-day requirement have since failed.

The latest proposal will cost an estimated $34.6 million in the first year and $67.2 million annually thereafter, as part of an expansion of the policy to home care workers. Additional one-time fees such as $1

.0

million for payroll logistics are also expected.

Newsom has warned he will veto bills based on cost as the state faces a $31 billion budget deficit. His Treasury Department opposes the bill, citing new state costs not included in California’s budget.

The Ministry of Finance has also expressed concerns about the potential of implementation

consequences for the impact on

the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which investigates wage theft and other workplace complaints. The agency already has “a backlog of cases,” causing some wait times to last more than a year, the department said in a statement.

People like Jim Riffel, a teaching assistant in Sacramento schools and a member of SEIU 1021, are optimistic that thoughts about work and public health have changed as a result of COVID-19.

Workers should have the option to stay home if they are sick or if their children are sick so that children are not sent to school while contagious, he said, causing a ripple effect in communities.

Without paid sick leave, he sees families choosing between health and wages, he said.

“When children get sick, working poor families are often faced with terrible choices,” says Riffel. “These families are walking a tightrope and have a very long way to go.”