SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — More than 200,000 San Franciscans are eligible for two additional weeks of paid leave after Mayor London Breed signed Supervisor Gordon Mar’s Public Health Emergency Leave legislation.

The law is effective immediately.

“While we take shelter, we must also take care of frontline and furloughed workers, and take action to help people stay both physically and economically healthy,” Mar said. “Economic policy is public health policy. We are only as healthy as our neighbor, our grocery store clerk, our frontline essential workers, and if they can’t afford to stay home when they need to, we are all worse off.”

Employees of large companies are now entitled to two weeks of fully paid leave — in addition to existing benefits — if they are sick, need to take care of a family member, are unable to work because of shelter-in-place, are 60 or older, or have a compromised immune system. 

Under the law, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers will also be able to immediately access an additional two weeks of fully paid leave if they demonstrate symptoms of COVID-19, are recommended to self-quarantine, or otherwise do not meet the CDC’s return to work guidance for healthcare providers.

All healthcare providers working for large private employers — including Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, Dignity Health, and Northeast Medical Services — will be eligible for the new paid leave. 

“Our doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers are working on front lines in the midst of a pandemic, and it is in the interest of public health to ensure that those workers do not have to go to work if they are sick,” Mar said. “These workers are taking care of us when we need it most; and when they need it most, we need to take care of them.”

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