LA To Require Businesses To Give Paid Leave For Getting Vaccinate

LOS ANGELES, CA —The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion to require businesses to provide supplemental paid sick leaves for employees to obtain COVID-19 vaccinations and recover from possible side effects from the vaccine.

The measure now headed to Mayor Eric Garcetti's desk would requires businesses to give up to four hours of paid time off to get each vaccine injection and up to eight hours to recover from the side effects. The law would apply to businesses of all sizes in the city of Los Angeles.

State law already requires employers with 25 or more workers to provide 80 hours of COVID-related sick leave for full-time employees. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a measure last week covering smaller employers in unincorporated areas.

The action approved by the council covers employers of any size within the city to provide the paid time off for vaccinations and recovery, if necessary.

"Unfortunately, vaccination rates in the city and nationwide have been waning in the last month -- so much that our largest vaccination sites are shuttering -- while our most disadvantaged communities, and Angelenos who have served as essential workers and on the front lines this pandemic have been left to choose between making ends meet and getting vaccinated," Koretz said in a statement.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.