On 25 January 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom and state legislatures announced plans to reactivate the expired COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (CSPSL) provisions applying to employers with 26 or more employees (see here). Complete details regarding the agreement of the CSPSL extension have not been confirmed, but the new CSPSL would be in effect until 30 September 2022, retroactively starting from 1 January 2022.

Details of the proposed new law have not yet been published at the time of writing; however, the proposed new law is expected to provide full-time employees with up to 80 hours of paid time off while part-time workers would be eligible for paid leave equal to the number of hours they typically work in a week. Full-time employees would need to provide proof of a positive test to qualify for the full 80 hours of paid time off.

Moreover, California intends to propose restoring the business tax credits to assist employers in covering expenses associated with the new law.