Comp & Benefits

Vacation

It is competitive to offer two weeks of paid vacation per year. These vacation benefits would typically be structured so that one week is scheduled for the employer’s benefit (so that it coincides with your family’s vacation, for instance) and one week at a time choosen by your employee. Candidates are typically paid 52 weeks of the year even if employer travels beyond two weeks per year. Some employers ask employees to take on additional tasks when they are out of town, including house sitting, pet sitting, household organization projects, etc. Any unused vacation time must be paid when employment ends.

Paid Sick Days

It is competitive to offer at least 4 to 6 paid sick days per year. However, under California’s “Healthy Workplaces Act,” all employers in California are required to provide at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Various cities in California, including San Francisco, Oakland or Emeryville, have separate sick time laws. If you live in a city in California that has it’s own sick time law, then you must comply with the minimum requirements of both your local law as well as the California law.

The California Law Generally Provides for the Following:

• Each employee must accrue at least one hour of sick time for each 30 hours worked. Sick time accrues during any hours worked, including regular and overtime.
• Your employee will start accruing sick time as of July 1, 2015 or their first day of employment, whichever is later.
• Your employee may start using accrued sick time 90 days after their employment has started.
• Your employee must work on at least 30 days in a 12 month period to accrue sick time.
• You may cap the total accrued & unused sick time to 48 hours.
• You may limit your employee to using no more than 24 hours in any 12 month period.
• Sick time is paid at your employee’s regular rate of pay.
• You are not required to pay out any unused sick time when your employee’s employment ends.
• You must tell your employee what their accrued sick time is in writing, with their pay stub being the most common place to do that reporting.

If you have household employees in your home in San Francisco, Oakland or Emeryville you should consult with your own employment lawyer to ensure compliance with your local laws.

Paid Holidays

It is competitive to offer 7 to 9 paid holidays per year. Some typical holidays offered include New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For part-time employees, it is typical to pay holidays that fall on employee’s work days. We recommend looking through the calendar to review which holidays fall on your employee’s work days and which will be offered paid and unpaid.