(a) Allocation of Public Health Emergency Leave.
(1) Except as provided in subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3) below, on the Operative Date, and on January 1 of each year thereafter, an Employer shall allocate Public Health Emergency Leave to each Employee that may be used for all purposes specified in Section 13.4(a) or Section 13.4(b), as applicable, during that calendar year. The allocation shall be calculated as follows:
(A) For an Employee who works a full-time, regular, or fixed schedule, the allocation shall be equal to the number of hours over a two-week period that the Employee regularly works or takes paid leave, not to exceed 80 hours; provided, however, for the remainder of 2022 beginning on the Operative Date, the allocation shall be equal to the number of hours over a one-week period that the Employee regularly works or takes paid leave, not to exceed 40 hours.
(B) For an Employee whose number of weekly work hours varies, the allocation shall be equal to the average number of hours over a two-week period that the Employee worked or took paid leave during the previous calendar year, or since the Employee’s start date if after the beginning of the previous calendar year, not to exceed 80 hours; provided, however, for the remainder of 2022 beginning on the Operative Date, the allocation shall be equal to the average number of hours over a one-week period that the Employee worked or took paid leave during the previous calendar year, or since the Employee’s start date if after the beginning of the previous calendar year, not to exceed 40 hours.
(2) If an Employee was not employed on the Operative Date, or on January 1 of a calendar year thereafter, on the start date of the first Public Health Emergency that begins during the Employee’s employment, an Employer shall allocate Public Health Emergency Leave to each such Employee that may be used for all purposes specified in Section 13.4(a) or Section 13.4(b), as applicable, during that calendar year. The allocation shall be calculated as follows:
(A) For an Employee who works a full-time, regular, or fixed schedule, the allocation shall be equal to the number of hours over a two-week period that the Employee regularly works or takes paid leave, not to exceed 80 hours; provided, however, for the remainder of 2022 beginning on the Operative Date, the allocation shall be equal to the number of hours over a one-week period that the Employee regularly works or takes paid leave, not to exceed 40 hours.
(B) For an Employee whose number of weekly work hours varies, the allocation shall be equal to the average number of hours over a two-week period that the Employee worked or took paid leave during the previous six months, or since the Employee’s start date if the Employee has been employed for fewer than six months, not to exceed 80 hours; provided, however, for the remainder of 2022 beginning on the Operative Date, the allocation shall be equal to the average number of hours over a one-week period that the Employee worked or took paid leave during the previous six months, or since the Employee’s start date if the Employee has been employed for fewer than six months, not to exceed 40 hours.
(3) Offset provisions.
(A) During 2022, (i) if an Employer voluntarily extended additional paid leave or paid time off that Employees may use for the reasons described in Section 13.4 and that paid leave or paid time off remains in effect on or after the Operative Date of this Article 13, or (ii) if State COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave requirements are extended beyond September 30, 2022, an Employer may reduce the allocation of Public Health Emergency Leave under subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2) for every hour an Employee takes such paid leave or paid time off after the Operative Date.
(B) During 2023 and subsequent years, if an Employer is required by federal, state, or City law to provide paid leave or paid time off to address a public health threat, which Employees may use for the reasons described in Section 13.4, an Employer may reduce the allocation of Public Health Emergency Leave under subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2) for every hour of such paid leave or paid time off the Employer is required to provide.
(C) If circumstances that are similar to those described in subsection (a)(3)(A) or subsection (a)(3)(B) merit the addition of other offsets to reduce the otherwise applicable allocation of Public Health Emergency Leave, the Agency may issue guidelines or rules authorizing additional circumstances for an offset of the otherwise applicable allocation of Public Health Emergency Leave. By way of illustration but not limitation, the Agency would be authorized to issue such guidelines or rules if a state law were to require Employers to provide paid leave to address a public health threat, which Employees could use for reasons that are similar to but not the same as the reasons described in Section 13.4, or if certain Employers were to voluntarily extend additional paid leave in response to a public health threat that later becomes a Public Health Emergency, which Employees could use for the reasons described in Section 13.4.
(b) For the duration of a Public Health Emergency, Public Health Emergency Leave shall be made available to Employees in addition to any paid leave that the Employer offered or provided to Employees as of the date the Public Health Emergency began.
(c) Public Health Emergency Leave shall be available for immediate use for the purposes described in Section 13.4(a) or Section 13.4(b), as applicable, regardless of how long the Employee has been employed by the Employer, the Employee’s status (as full-time, part-time, permanent, temporary, seasonal, salaried, paid by commission, or any other status), or any other consideration pertaining to the Employee.
(d) An Employee may use Public Health Emergency Leave for the purposes described in Section 13.4(a) or Section 13.4(b), as applicable, before using other accrued paid leave. An Employee may voluntarily choose, but an Employer may not require, induce, or encourage the Employee, to use other accrued paid leave provided by the Employer to the Employee before the Employee uses Public Health Emergency Leave.
(e) This Article 13 provides minimum requirements pertaining to Public Health Emergency Leave and shall not be construed to prevent an Employer from providing or advancing additional paid leave to an Employee, and shall not be construed to limit the amount of paid leave that may be provided to an Employee. This Article shall not be construed to preempt, limit, or otherwise affect the applicability of any other law, regulation, requirement, policy, or standard that provides for greater or different types of paid or unpaid leave, or that extends other protections to employees.
(f) An Employer is not required to carry over an Employee’s unused Public Health Emergency Leave from year to year.
(g) Compensation rates under this Article 13 shall be:
(1) For an Employee who is not exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA, an Employer may calculate pay for Public Health Emergency Leave using either of the following methods:
(A) In the same manner as the regular rate of pay for the workweek in which the Employee uses Public Health Emergency Leave, whether or not the Employee works overtime in that workweek; or
(B) By dividing the Employee’s total wages, not including overtime premium pay, by the Employee’s total hours worked in the full pay periods of the 90 days of employment prior to the Employee’s use of Public Health Emergency Leave.
(2) For an Employee who is exempt from the overtime provisions of FLSA and California labor law, pay for Public Health Emergency Leave shall be calculated in the same manner as the Employer calculates wages for other forms of paid leave.
(3) In no circumstance may Public Health Emergency Leave be provided at less than the minimum wage rate required by the Minimum Wage Ordinance, Labor and Employment Code Article 1.
(Added as Police Code Sec. 3300P.3 by Proposition G, 6/7/2022, Eff. 7/10/2022, Oper. 10/1/2022; redesignated by Ord. 221-23, File No. 230835, App. 11/3/2023, Eff. 12/4/2023, Oper. 1/4/2024)