Employer Guide & Resources

Employers with employees, business partnerships and corporations must obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Contact your local office of the Internal Revenue Service for more information. To apply online visit the IRS website at: www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Employer-ID-Numbers-EINs 

Once you become an employer subject to the payroll tax laws of California, you must complete and submit a registration form to EDD within 15 days. EDD will assign you an eight-digit employer account number, e.g., State Employer Identification Number, SEIN, state ID number, or reserve account number. An application and more information about employment tax requirements are available from the EDD website at www.edd.ca.gov/Payroll_Taxes/.

In addition, as an employer, you are required to report information on newly hired or rehired employees to the EDD’s New Employee Registry (NER) within 20 days of the employee’s start-to-work date. You are to file a Report of New Employee(s) (DE 34) form that can be found on EDD’s website at www.edd.ca.gov/pdf_pub_ctr/de34.pdf. 

• • For state payroll tax assistance: (888) 745-3886

  • To view a listing of employment tax offices by city visit www.edd.ca.gov/Office_Locator.

Note: All employers are required to electronically submit employment tax returns, wage reports, and payroll tax deposits to EDD.

CalGOLD provides businesses with information on permits and other requirements of California agencies at all levels of government, including addresses,telephone numbers, and links to agency internet pages. Specify the county and city your optometric practice is located in and this website will provide a list of permits and licenses you will need to obtain for your business: www.calgold.ca.gov. 

The vast majority of private practice optometrists need to obtain a seller’s permit from the state Department of Tax and Fee Administration. You do not need a seller’s permit if you are only selling ophthalmic materials furnished in the performance of your professional service in the diagnosis, treatment or correction of conditions of the human eye. Anything else you sell in your office, including sunglasses without a prescription, contact lens solution or dietary supplements, requires a seller’s permit. To apply for a seller’s permit, visit: www.cdtfa.ca.gov/services/#Register-Renewals. 

Business filing information, including types, requirements and instruction, is available here.

The form of business you operate determines what taxes you must pay and how you pay them. For details on the various federal taxes and how to file, please visit: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/business-taxes

Provides online access to information and forms for the filing of state income, payroll, and sales and use taxes: www.taxes.ca.gov. 

Striking Gold in California is an educational tool for small business owners that provides basic tax information from the Internal Revenue Service and the three California tax agencies, all in one place: www.taxes.ca.gov/strikinggoldbus.html. 

No. Vacations have been ruled by the courts as a form of wages. Like wages, the right to vacation vests as the employee renders services to the practice. Just as an employer cannot take away or reduce wages after an employee renders services – or earns the pay, an optometric employer cannot have a “use-it-or-lose-it” vacation policy whereby if vacation benefits are not used by a specified time, the employee loses the vacation. However, an optometric employer can place reasonable caps on the accrual of vacation time which can effectively limit the amount of vacation liability that must be paid at time of employment separation (see below).

No. If an exempt employee works any time during the workweek, then he or she must be paid in full for that workweek. Thus, if an exempt employee takes one-half day, e.g., four hours, off as “vacation,” the employer may not charge that time against the exempt employee’s accrued vacation. There is an exception, however. If the exempt employee takes an entire day off or more (in full day increments) as vacation, and the employer has a policy or practice of paying for that time, then the employer may charge the entire day against the exempt employee’s accrued vacation.

Yes. All earned, i.e., accrued, but unused vacation must be paid at the time of employment separation at the terminating employee’s final rate of pay.

If an employee takes a full-day paid vacation, e.g. eight hours, and proceeds to work 40 hours in that workweek for a total of 48 hours pay, there is no requirement to pay overtime for the eight hours over 40 in the workweek as overtime is paid only for hours actually worked, not hours paid. In this example, the employee actually worked 40 hours in the workweek, although he or she was paid for 48 hours in the workweek, given the paid vacation day, and no overtime was owed.

If an optometric practice grants employees paid vacation time, COA strongly suggests that the practice have a written policy in place and that it be consistently applied. Further, COA suggests that optometric employers document all vacation time requested by employees and whether it is approved or denied. Below is a sample employee vacation policy with instructions on how to tailor a policy to your practice. In addition, a sample “Vacation Request” form is provided to document employee vacations.

• An employee may use accrued paid sick days beginning on the 90th day of employment.

• An employee may request paid sick days in writing or verbally. An employee cannot be required to find a replacement as a condition for using paid sick days.

• An employee can take paid leave for employee’s own or a family member for the diagnosis, care or treatment of an existing health condition or preventive care or for specified purposes for an employee who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

• Display poster on paid sick leave where employees can read it easily.

• Provide written notice to employees with sick leave rights at the time of hire.

• Provide for accrual of one hour for every 30 hours worked. Although employers may adopt or keep other types of accrual schedules, the schedule must result in an employee having at least 24 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 120th calendar day of employment and 40 hours by the 200th calendar day of employment.

• Provide payment for sick leave taken by an employee no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period after the sick leave was taken. This does not prevent an employer from making the adjustment in the pay for the same payroll period in which the leave was taken, but it permits an employer to delay the adjustment until the next payroll.

• Show how many days of sick leave an employee has available. This must be on a pay stub or a document issued the same day as a paycheck.

• Keep records showing how many hours have been earned and used for three years.

Retaliation or discrimination against an employee who requests or uses paid sick days is prohibited. An employee may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner against an employer who retaliates or discriminates against the employee for exercising these rights or other rights protected under the Labor Code. 

Employers may choose to have an “accrual” policy or an “up front” policy.

What is an accrual policy?

An accrual policy is one where employees earn sick leave over time, with the accrued time carrying over in each year of employment. In general terms (and subject to some exceptions), employees under an accrual plan must earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for each 30 hours of work (the 1:30 schedule).  Although employers may adopt or keep other types of accrual schedules, the schedule must result in an employee having at least 24 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 120th calendar day of employment and 40 hours by the 200th calendar day of employment.
Although employees may accrue more than five days of paid sick leave under the one hour for every 30 hours worked accrual method (or under an alternative accrual standard), the law allows employers to limit an employee’s use of paid sick leave to 40 hours or five days during a year.  The law also allows an employer to limit an employee’s total accrued paid sick leave to no more than 80 hours or ten days. Before January 1, 2024, an employer could limit an employee’s use to 24 hours or three days during a year and an employee’s accrual to no more than 48 hours or six days.

What is an up‑front policy for providing paid sick leave?

An up-front policy makes the full amount of sick leave for the year available immediately at the beginning of a year-long period, except for initial hires where it must be available for use by the 120th day of employment. The employer must provide at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave per year and the full amount of this leave must be available for the employee’s use from the beginning of each year of employment, calendar year, or 12-month period. 

How is the 12-month period for providing annual paid sick leave measured?

The employer determines how the year will be calculated, whether it tracks a typical calendar year, fiscal year, or other 12-month period. The measurement will often be tracked by the employee's anniversary date.

If an employer uses an accrual method and capped an employee’s yearly use of leave at 3 days or 24 hours, what must an employer do to comply with the law on January 1, 2024?

If an employer uses an annual start date other than January 1 and implements a 12‑month use cap, that cap must change to 40 hours or 5 days on January 1, 2024. For example, if an employer uses the 12-month period of May 1 - April 30 and implements a cap and an employee used 24 hours or three days before January 1, 2024, the employer must allow the employee to use an additional 2 days or 16 hours before April 30 if the employee has accrued that additional leave.

If an employer utilized the “up-front” method prior to January 1, 2024 and provided an employee with 3 days or 24 hours of leave on the employee’s anniversary date during the year, what must an employer do to comply with the law on January 1, 2024?

The employer has the choice to frontload the two additional days on January 1, 2024 or move the measurement of the yearly period to January 1, 2024 and frontload five days.  For example, if an employee started on May 1, 2021 and the employer used that anniversary date to frontload 3 days or 24 hours on May 1, 2023, the employer may either provide 2 days or 16 hours on January 1, 2024 and keep the May 1 date to frontload or can “reset” the frontload date to January 1, 2024 and provide the employee 5 days or 40 hours then.

1. For non-exempt employees:

   • Calculated in the same manner as the regular rate of pay for the workweek in which the employee uses paid sick time, whether or not the employee actually works overtime in that workweek.

   • Calculated by dividing the employee's total wages, not including overtime premium pay, by the employee's total hours worked in the full pay periods of the prior 90 days of employment.

2. For exempt employees:

• • Paid sick leave is to be calculated in the same way other forms of paid leave are calculated.

The U.S. Small Business Department provides numerous resources for small business owners from planning your business to growing your business: www.sba.gov/starting-business. 

California Business Portal provides assistance for starting a new business: http://businessportal.ca.gov/.

The Secretary of State website has a step-by-step guide for starting a business in California, and provides information and forms for business entities: www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/businessentities/starting-business/. 

Provides information for employers on labor laws, required postings, occupational safety and health (Cal/OSHA) and workers' compensation: www.dir.ca.gov/for_employers.html .