Caring for your best friend while they recover from surgery? You may be leaving paid sick time on the table. You have until May 19 to change that!
Sick Leave
The Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (PLSO) that passed in 2007 was one of the first in the country to guarantee sick leave for employees in San Francisco. It also placed minimum standards on existing sick leave policies that expanded an employee’s right to take sick leave on behalf of family members, and placed limitations on when an employer could insist on proof of illness, among other things.
One of the important changes allowed eligible employees without spouses or registered domestic partners to identify a “designated person” for whom they could use paid sick leave. The PLSO already allows you to take sick leave for family members, but this means you can designate a person who is not already covered by the PLSO to take paid sick leave for if you don’t have a spouse or registered domestic partner.
The City is required to give you information about selecting a designated person when you begin to accrue sick leave. Thereafter, the City has a yearly 10-day period for you to make changes to your designation. This year, the period for making such a designation ends on Friday, May 19, 2017.
Eligible employees must return a designated person form to the Human Resources Office, 101 Grove St., Room 210, San Francisco, CA 94102, no later than close of business on Friday, May 19, 2017. If you have questions, reach out to Gina Garcia at DHR: 415-554-2587
Secretly dating your cubicle-mate? Does a family member work in your department? This new policy could affect you!
Relationships at Work
A new City policy on relationships at work puts restrictions on making “employment decisions” that influence a family member or a person you are or were romantically involved with. You can protect yourself by learning about the new rules.
In February, the City’s Civil Service Commission adopted the Family & Romantic Relationships at Work Policy which clarifies the Ethics Commission’s existing “Incompatible Activities” policy in the Employee handbook.
“The policy is: Employees may not make, participate in making, or influence any employment decision involving a related person. Examples of an employment decision include: Assigning work, approving compensation time or time off, hiring process, administration of an investigation or discipline, performance appraisal etc.
Related persons refers to a family member and consensual romantic relationships occurring within the past two years. If the situation exists or arises where a related person(s) is directly or indirectly supervising their related person(s), all related persons involved are expected to promptly report their relationship to their Department’s Human Resource Director. Enforcement of this expanded policy will begin July 1, 2017.”
You can read more here.
