New Los Angeles Ordinance Provides for Paid Sick Leave and Increased Minimum Wages
Joining the ranks of five other municipalities in California (including Santa Monica), the city of Los Angeles recently enacted a new paid sick leave ordinance that imposes requirements more stringent than those required under California law. The Los Angeles Minimum Wage Ordinance (“Ordinance”) provides little time for employers to comply with its new requirements – being that it was passed on June 1 and becomes effective July 1, 2016 for most employers. As set forth in detail below, the Ordinance doubles the amount of paid sick leave an employer is required to provide and increases the group of people for whom an employee may use paid sick leave to provide care. The Ordinance also provides a schedule of minimum wage rates for employers from July 1, 2016 through the year 2022.
To enforce the new Ordinance, the city also passed the Los Angeles Office of Wage Standards Ordinance, which creates a new Office of Wage Standards (“OWS”) under the Bureau of Contract Administration that is charged with enforcing the Ordinance and establishes the framework for enforcing the Ordinance. As of the time of this publication, the OWS has prepared draft rules and regulations implementing the Ordinance, but has yet to post the final version.
