The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion on May 26 authored by Councilman Paul Koretz, 5th District, that would allow employees to use supplemental paid sick leave to receive COVID-19 vaccines and to recover from vaccine-related side effects. The motion calls for changes to emergency orders that would require all employers, regardless of size, to provide employees up to four hours of paid time off to obtain each injection, and up to eight hours for recovery from vaccination-related side effects.

“As we begin to emerge from this pandemic and our economy continues to open up, it is critically important that we get as many people vaccinated as possible,” Koretz said.

California Senate Bill 95 requires all employers with 25 or more employees to provide 80 hours of COVID-19 related sick leave for full-time employees, and for part-time employees, hours to cover the normal schedule that employees would work during two weeks of time. Los Angeles County recently approved an emergency ordinance that covers vaccine-related time off for workers who work for employers with fewer than 25 employees, as well as those that may have already exhausted the existing tim off due to COVID-19.