California lawmakers set to vote on paid COVID sick leave

California workers could get up to two weeks of paid time off if they get sick from the coronavirus

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- When Crystal Orozco got sick with the coronavirus last month, she missed nearly two weeks’ worth of her salary as a shift leader at a fast food restaurant and had to ask family members for a loan to help pay her rent.

“My check was literally $86,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh my god.’”

Orozco could soon get backpay from her company for the time she was out sick. The California Legislature on Monday is scheduled to vote on a bill that would require most companies to give employees up to two weeks of paid time off if they get sick with the coronavirus — and the proposal would be retroactive to Jan. 1.

At the beginning of the pandemic, state and federal laws required employers to give their workers paid time off if they got sick with the coronavirus. But many of those laws have expired. California's law expired last September.