Q: Can I use my sick days for someone else in California?
A: Yes. It is called kin care. Any California employer that provides sick leave must let you use, in any calendar year, an amount of your accrued and available sick leave "not less than the sick leave that would be accrued during six months at the employee's then current rate of entitlement," for a family member, for any of the reasons the paid sick leave statute allows.¹
Two details in that sentence do more work than they look like they do.
You decide, not your employer. "The designation of sick leave taken for these reasons shall be made at the sole discretion of the employee."¹ Your manager does not get to reclassify the day as vacation or as an unexcused absence.
The amount is measured by accrual, not by halving the cap. It is six months' worth of accrual at your current rate — which the Labor Commissioner restates as "the amount that would accrue during a six month period."² For a full-time worker accruing at the statutory floor of one hour per 30 hours worked, six months of accrual is meaningfully more than "half of 40 hours." Note also that the statute measures this "in any calendar year" even where your employer runs its sick-leave year on your hire anniversary.
Who counts as family — and the part that surprises people
Kin care borrows the paid sick leave definition, which is wide:³
- a child — biological, adopted, foster, stepchild, legal ward, or a child you stand in loco parentis to — regardless of age or dependency status
- a parent, biological, adoptive, foster, step, or legal guardian, of you or of your spouse or registered domestic partner, or a person who stood in loco parentis to you as a child
- a spouse
- a registered domestic partner
- a grandparent
- a grandchild
- a sibling
- a designated person — "a person identified by the employee at the time the employee requests paid sick days"
That last one is the one to know. It reaches chosen family, a friend, a partner you are not married to. The only limit is that an employer "may limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period" for paid sick days.³ Bereavement leave has no such category — this is the statute that does.
Mental health counts, and so does therapy
The covered reasons are the paid sick leave reasons, and the first of them is "diagnosis, care, or treatment of an existing health condition of, or preventive care for, an employee or an employee's family member."⁴ The statute draws no line between physical and mental conditions, and the Department of Industrial Relations lists the use as "recover from physical/mental illness or injury" and "to seek medical diagnosis, treatment, or preventative care."⁵
So: driving your father to a psychiatry appointment is covered. Sitting with your adult child through an intake is covered. So is your own therapy hour — and you do not have to burn a whole day on it, because you "may determine how much paid sick leave" to use and an employer's minimum increment cannot exceed two hours.⁶
Attendance points
There is a second statute people rarely hear about. An employer absence-control policy that counts sick leave taken under kin care "as an absence that may lead to or result in discipline, discharge, demotion, or suspension is a per se violation."⁷ No balancing, no case-by-case: per se.
Read the limit honestly, though, because it is where the protection stops. The bar applies to leave actually taken pursuant to section 233 — meaning covered by accrued, available sick leave. The Labor Commissioner is explicit that if you have no accrued paid sick leave left, the law "does not prohibit the employer from giving the employee an 'occurrence' for such absence, even if the employee was actually sick," and that a half-covered absence can draw a half occurrence.² The shield is your balance.
If it goes wrong
Denying you the right to use sick leave, or discharging, threatening, demoting, suspending or otherwise discriminating against you for using it, is prohibited.⁸ The remedy is "reinstatement and actual damages or one day's pay, whichever is greater," plus equitable relief.⁹
The forum is not the Civil Rights Department. Kin care is enforced by the Labor Commissioner, and you may alternatively bring a civil action, in which a prevailing employee may be awarded attorney's fees.¹⁰ A retaliation complaint to the Labor Commissioner must be filed within one year of the retaliatory act, extendable for good cause.¹¹
Do this: when you request the day, say in writing that you are designating it as sick leave under Labor Code section 233 for a family member, and name the relationship — or, for a chosen person, say you are naming them as your designated person. Do not accept a re-labelling of the day. If you are the one holding a family together through someone else's illness, the caregiving is its own weight and it is a normal thing to get support for. Where you are: caregivers →
Sources
- Labor Code §233(a) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. "Employer" is defined at §233(b)(1) to include the state, political subdivisions and municipalities; §233(b)(3)(B) excludes ERISA welfare-plan benefits, insurance benefits, workers' compensation and unemployment compensation disability from the meaning of "sick leave."
- Labor Commissioner's Office (DLSE), California Paid Sick Leave: Frequently Asked Questions — dir.ca.gov.
- Labor Code §233(b)(2), incorporating Labor Code §245.5(c)(1)–(8) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
- Labor Code §246.5(a)(1) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Section 246.5(b) also bars an employer from requiring you to find a replacement worker as a condition of using paid sick days.
- Department of Industrial Relations, Paid Sick Leave in California — dir.ca.gov.
- Labor Code §246(k) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
- Labor Code §234 — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Enacted by Stats. 2002, Ch. 1107; unamended since.
- Labor Code §233(c).
- Labor Code §233(d).
- Labor Code §233(e).
- Labor Code §98.7(a)(1) — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov; DLSE, How to File a Retaliation Complaint — dir.ca.gov. Section 98.7(g) provides that there is "no requirement that an individual exhaust administrative remedies or procedures."
All sections read on the operative text on 18 August 2026. This page describes the statute; it is not legal advice. Several California cities have their own paid sick leave ordinances that can be more generous than the state floor; check your city as well.