California workers lose paid COVID sick leave. What happens now?
Oct. 1—Ana Maria Gonzalez doesn't know what she would have done if she didn't have California's COVID-19 paid sick leave, which expired at the end of September.
A school on Sept. 2 informed Gonzalez that her four-year-old son came in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus. That meant Gonzalez had to leave work, pick her son up and care for him and his older brother while they were in self-quarantine until Sept. 10.
Because Gonzalez started her job as a speech pathologist assistant for a school district in May, she said she didn't know if she qualified for other leave programs. Not using the state's COVID paid sick leave meant she could have lost out on about $1,200 in income, she said.
"I was calm. I wasn't frustrated," said Gonzalez, 28 in Los Angeles. "I wasn't upset, because I knew I was going to get those 10 days paid, and I wasn't going to struggle to worry about paying rent, paying my car loan, paying my phone bills."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/california-workers-lose-paid-covid-sick-leave-what-happens-now/ar-AAP2ryv