What Is California Labor Code §246.5: Paid Sick Leave Protections?

An employer shall not deny an employee the right to use accrued sick days, discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, or in any manner discriminate against an employee for using accrued sick days, attempting to exercise the right to use accrued sick days, filing a complaint with the department or alleging a violation of this article, cooperating in an investigation or prosecution of an alleged violation of this article, or opposing any policy or practice or act that is prohibited by this article.

What Does This Paid Sick Leave Law Cover?

It names the reasons behind a protected sick day and protects you for taking one.

Think of Labor Code 246.5 as the rulebook sitting underneath California's broader sick leave statute. It lists the specific situations where this leave applies, it stops your employer from forcing you to line up a replacement before you take a day, and it bars retaliation for using the leave correctly. It works alongside the hours-of-leave and accrual rules found elsewhere in that statute, which decide how many days you have in the first place.

Almost every California employee who earns paid sick leave gets this protection, whether you work full time, part time or on a seasonal basis. The right belongs to you, not your employer, and your employer cannot pick which qualifying reason counts.

Can You Use Paid Sick Leave to Recover From a Work Injury?

Yes. Recovering from an existing health condition, including one caused by a work injury, is one of the listed reasons you can use accrued paid sick days.

Labor Code 246.5 lets you draw on accrued sick time for the diagnosis, care or treatment of an existing health condition, for yourself or a family member, and a work injury qualifies. Two other reasons appear in the statute: certain leave tied to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking under Government Code 12945.8, and, for outdoor agricultural workers, time off to avoid smoke, heat or flood conditions during a declared state or local emergency.

Your employer cannot require you to find a coworker to cover your shift before you are allowed to use a sick day. That rule applies no matter which of the listed reasons brings you to use the leave.

How Does Paid Sick Leave Relate to a Workers' Compensation Claim?

Paid sick leave and workers' compensation are two separate systems, and using one does not use up or reduce the other.

Your temporary disability check comes from the workers' comp insurer once your claim is accepted, under rules such as Labor Code 4650. Paid sick leave is a different benefit your employer funds directly. Choosing to use one does not reduce or cancel the other, and nothing in Labor Code 246.5 requires you to use your sick days before or instead of filing a claim.

There is one place the two can overlap in practice. Labor Code 4652 generally leaves the first three days after a work injury unpaid by the comp insurer, unless your disability lasts more than 14 days or you are hospitalized. Some workers choose to tap accrued sick leave or vacation to cover that short gap. That choice belongs to you. Nothing requires it, and your employer cannot make the choice for you.

What Happens if Your Employer Punishes You for Using Sick Leave?

California law bars firing, discipline or demotion for using accrued sick days the right way, and a punishment within 30 days of certain protected acts is presumed to be retaliation.

If your employer disciplines or fires you for using accrued sick time correctly, that can violate Labor Code 246.5(c). The law goes further: if your employer takes an adverse action within 30 days after you file a complaint, cooperate with an investigation, or oppose a practice this law prohibits, the law presumes that action was retaliation. Your employer then has to show a real, unrelated reason for what happened.

A sick leave retaliation problem on its own belongs with the Labor Commissioner's Office, which enforces this part of the paid sick leave law directly. A standalone sick leave complaint like this is not a matter Yazdchi Law P.C. takes on.

Is This the Same Protection as the Workers' Comp Retaliation Law?

No. Labor Code 246.5 protects your use of sick leave, while a separate law protects you for filing a comp claim, and the two go to different agencies.

Labor Code 132a makes it illegal to fire or discriminate against a worker for filing, or planning to file, a workers' comp claim, and a 132a petition goes to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board instead of the Labor Commissioner. The two protections often come up together after the same injury. A worker who is disciplined for using sick leave to recover, and separately punished for having filed a comp claim over that same injury, may have a case under both laws. Keep the facts and the dates for each one separate, since they are decided in different forums. Our guide on getting fired while on workers' comp covers the 132a side in full.

What Should You Keep Track Of?

Write down when you asked to use a sick day, why, and what your employer said back.

Note the date you requested leave, the reason you gave, and whether your employer approved it, denied it, or asked you to find coverage first. Keep copies of any doctor's note or message about the injury that led to the request. If anything changes at work soon afterward, a schedule cut, a write up or a sudden policy change, write down the date so you can compare it against your sick leave request later.

A sick leave problem by itself is a Labor Commissioner matter. A standalone sick leave complaint is not something Yazdchi Law P.C. takes on by itself. If your employer punished you for using sick leave and the same facts involve an open workers' comp claim, such as being disciplined after you reported a work injury, Eman Yazdchi reviews each matter individually and can go over how the two issues fit together. Call (661) 273-1780 or use the contact form, and see our guide on what not to do while on workers' comp for more on paid time off while a claim moves forward.