End of COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave
Contributors
Christian Scali
Jasmin B. Bhandari
COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) was recently extended to December 31, 2022. As we previously reported, this did not afford additional time off to the employee, but extended the time to request leave if they still had unused time. Finally, there is an end to this provision - no further extensions have been made.
Employers may have been faced with several end of the year leave requests since it is “use it or lose it.” One important point is that employees who begin leave on or before December 31, must be allowed to finish the leave, even into 2023. The end of SPSL also brings the end of the requirement to reflect on the wage statement (pay stub) the amount of SPSL leave that has been used. However, general paid sick leave available must still be reflected on the pay stub. Additionally, some local jurisdictions may continue to have their paid sick leave ordinances in effect past December 31, 2023, such as the city of Los Angeles (which voted to end the state of emergency on February 1, 2023 with the leave ordinance ending two weeks later – on February 15, 2023).
This does not end any of your other obligations to your employees regarding COVID-19 and keeping your workplace safe, which are still in effect.