Although nearly all California workers already get paid time off when they are sick, this basic right has long been denied to IHSS providers. But that is set to change this summer!

Thanks to a historic minimum wage increase law that UDW caregivers helped pass in 2016, IHSS providers will now be able to earn and use paid sick leave hours.

Here’s how it will work: 

• You will earn eight hours of paid sick leave once you’ve worked 100 hours after the July 1, 2018 start date.
• You can use the sick leave once you’ve worked 200 additional hours OR 60 days after the earned sick leave is accrued, whichever comes first.
• The maximum accrued sick leave in 2018 is eight hours. Sick leave is scheduled to increase every two years until 2022, when you will be able to accrue a maximum of 24 hours of sick leave each year.
• Request forms to use sick leave will be available on the CDSS website or at county IHSS offices.

This is an important change in our working conditions that will help us better take care of ourselves and recover faster when we are sick. And when we are healthy, we are better caregivers!

For more information about the new sick leave rules, visit www.udwa.org.