Paid Sick Leave Roils Sides in California Disease Rule Proposal

A proposed rule that likely wouldn’t even take effect until January 2025 at the earliest is already pitting worker and business advocates against each other because of one big detail: whether the regulation should mandate paid sick leave for ill or possibly infected workers.

“A critical component of preparing for future potential pandemics is to protect the pay and jobs of people who are ordered to go home and not work to protect everybody else,” said Steve Knight, executive director of Worksafe Inc., a worker advocacy group based in Oakland, Calif.

Employer groups are concerned how the state would ...