PTO and sick leave · rules read October 11, 2026
California paid sick leave
Enter the hours you have worked and see the sick leave you have earned under California’s accrual rate.
Written by Radif Partners · How the hours are counted · Editorial policy
Sick leave accrued
34.67 h
1 hour for every 30 hours worked
| Balance with carryover, before any cap | 34.67 h |
| Balance if the employer caps accrual at 80 h | 34.67 h |
| Use the employer must allow each year | at least 40 h or 5 days |
| Hours of work to earn 40 h | 1,200 |
California Labor Commissioner rules since January 1, 2024. Employers may front-load the year instead; local ordinances can give more. How this is calculated.
California employees earn at least 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, under the rules published by the Labor Commissioner (DLSE). A full-time year of 2,080 hours therefore earns 69.33 hours, and a 20-hour-a-week job earns 34.67. The employer may limit how much is used each year, but not below 40 hours or 5 days. It may also stop accrual once the balance reaches a cap, which cannot be set lower than 80 hours or 10 days. Instead of accrual, an employer can front-load the leave, giving the full yearly amount up front. At the accrual rate, a full-time worker needs 1,200 hours on the job, about 30 weeks, to earn the 40 usable hours, and 60 weeks without using any to reach an 80-hour cap. The calculator turns your hours worked into hours earned.
California sick hours earned
Sick leave accrued
20.00 h
| Rate | 1 h per 30 h |
| Usable each year, at least | 40 h or 5 days |
Accrual, use and cap: three different numbers
California's paid sick leave has three figures that people mix up, all set out on the Labor Commissioner’s paid sick leave page. The first is the accrual rate: at least 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. The second is the use limit: how many hours an employer may let you take in a year, which cannot be less than 40 hours or 5 days. The third is the accrual cap: the balance at which an employer may stop adding hours, which cannot be less than 80 hours or 10 days.
The cap is twice the use limit, so a balance can sit above what you are allowed to take in one year. A worker who reaches 80 hours and uses 40 of them still has 40 hours banked, and accrual resumes as soon as the balance is under the cap.
| Schedule | Hours worked a year | Sick hours earned | Weeks to earn 40 h |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full time, 40 h a week | 2,080 | 69.33 | 30 |
| 30 h a week | 1,560 | 52.00 | 40 |
| 20 h a week | 1,040 | 34.67 | 60 |
| 12 h a week | 624 | 20.80 | 100 |
Part-time workers earn at the same rate per hour, so they simply take longer. At 20 hours a week it takes 60 weeks to earn 40 hours, longer than a year. At the 2026 state minimum wage of $16.90, 40 hours of leave represent $676.00 of pay.
To check the balance on a pay stub by hand, take the hours worked since accrual started, divide by 30, and subtract the sick hours already taken. A worker with 1,040 hours on the clock has earned 34.67 hours; after 16 hours of use, 18.67 remain, unless the employer front-loads or grants more.
When the sick leave balance tops out
Sick hours earned per year
55.47
| Weeks to earn 40 hours | 38 |
| Weeks to reach an 80-hour cap | 75 |
| Accrual rate | 1 h per 30 h worked |
Accrual pauses at the cap your employer sets, which cannot be lower than 80 hours or 10 days.
Front-loading instead of accruing
An employer does not have to run an accrual system. It can front-load: put the full amount, at least 40 hours or 5 days, into the balance at the start of each year. Employees gain because the hours are usable at once, without waiting 30 weeks of full-time work. Employers gain because payroll does not have to add a fraction of an hour every period. Under accrual, by contrast, a full-time employee paid biweekly earns 2.67 hours per paycheck and, using nothing, reaches the 80-hour cap in pay period 31. One who takes the 40 hours spread over the year ends it with 29.33 hours.
How this fits with vacation and other leave
Sick leave is a legal minimum in California, while vacation rules come from the employer's policy. Some employers combine both into one PTO bank, which works as long as the bank gives at least what the sick leave rules require. The PTO accrual calculator projects a balance per pay period, the PTO calculator checks whether a balance covers planned time off, and the California overtime page covers the state's daily overtime rules for the hours that earn the leave. Two related official references are the state minimum wage FAQ and the DLSE overtime FAQ.