California Paid Sick Leave – Minimum Accrual Setup

Overview

California Paid Sick Leave (PSL) law requires that employees accrue sick leave at a minimum rate of:

• 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked

As of January 1, 2024, employers must also ensure employees can accrue and use at least 40 hours (or 5 days) per year, but this article focuses only on configuring the minimum accrual rate.

Minimum Accrual Requirements

When using an accrual-based policy in California:

• Accrual Rate: 1 hour per 30 hours worked (minimum)
• Accrual must be ongoing based on hours worked
• Employers may offer a more generous rate, but not less than this minimum

How to Set Up California Minimum Accrual

Follow the steps below to configure the required accrual rate in PayClock Online.

Step 1: Configure Accrual Type

1. Navigate to Setup- Benefit Time Accruals.

2. Create a New policy or edit your existing Sick Time policy(editing an existing policy will reset that policy and treat it as a brand new policy)

3. Select the Settings tab:

•  Under Benefit Time Pay Code, select the appropriate Sick time pay code.
•  Under Carry Over Benefit Time, select Hire Date.
•  Under Starting Balance ,choose the appropriate option.

4. Select the Schedule tab:

• Set the Accrue Hours On this Schedule, Day of Week to Accrue, and Time Zone For Schedule, per your company's accrual policy.

5. Select the Minimum Accruals tab:

• Under Enforce Minimum Accrued Time select, Require Minimum Accrued Time.
• Under Worked Hours Start From, select 01/01/2024.
• Under Minimum Hours to Accrue, set to 001:00.
• Under Each Total hours Worked, set to 030:00.
• Under Enforce Minimum Accrued Time Cap select Require Minimum Accrued Time Cap
• Under Minimum Hours to Accrue Cap, set cap for maximum hour to accrue to 40:00

6. Select the Accrual Levels tab:

• Under Starts After, set to 0 years
• Under Hours, leave it set to 0.000
• Under Maximum Balance, set balance to 0

Step 2: Assign to Employees or Pay Class

To assign to individual Employees:

1. Navigate to Employees
2. Select the employee(s)
3. Assign the accrual policy under:
   • Benefit Accruals

To assign to a Pay Class:

1. Navigate to Setup->Pay Class
2. Select the Pay Class to assign to
3. Assign the accrual policy under:
   • Benefit Accruals

Notes

• This setup ensures compliance with California’s minimum accrual rate requirement
• Additional settings (caps, carryover, yearly limits) may be required for full compliance but are not covered in this article
• Employers may choose alternative accrual methods as long as they meet or exceed the legal minimum
• This is not meant to be used as accrual based on hours worked.
• For more info: California Paid Sick Leave