Understanding your Paid Sick Time

At Alto, we deeply value the hard work of our employees and recognize the importance of rest, recovery, and personal well-being. This policy supports your health and work-life balance by providing paid sick time that can be used for illness, medical care, preventive care, personal matters, or other qualifying reasons in accordance with applicable state and local laws.

Important Note on Time Off: Alto does not offer general Paid Time Off (PTO). Instead, Alto provides paid sick time specifically tailored to comply with the state and local laws where our employees operate.

Scope & Accrual Basics

This policy applies to all Alto employees eligible to accrue paid sick time. Across all locations, employees accrue paid sick time at a standard rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked.

However, maximum caps, usage limits, and eligibility timelines vary depending on whether you work in California or another market.

Policy Breakdown by Location

To see how your specific sick time accrues and can be used, please reference the guidelines for your region below:

Note on Caps: Once your sick time balance reaches your region's maximum cap (40 or 64 hours), additional sick time will stop accruing. Accrual will automatically resume once you use sick time and your balance falls below the threshold.

How to Request Paid Sick Time by Region

Because submission rules differ fundamentally by state, you must follow the correct protocol for your specific location to ensure your hours are logged accurately and processed by payroll.

For California Drivers Only

In the California market, paid sick time is strictly tied to active scheduled time.

• Scheduled Shifts Only: Paid sick time can only be requested for shifts that you are already officially scheduled to work.
• Drop the Shift: Log into the Driver Portal, look at your active schedule, and drop the specific shift you will miss.
• Selecting the Reason: You must select 'use accrued sick time' as your exact reason for dropping the shift to trigger the paid leave request.

For All Other Locations (Non-California Markets)

If you operate in any market outside of California, you have the flexibility to request your hours before a schedule is generated.

• Advance Requests: You may request sick time in advance by logging into the Driver Portal and submitting a standard time-off request.
• Selecting the Reason: When filling out your request details, open the reason dropdown menu and select 'Use my accrued Sick Time' to apply your hours toward your planned absence.

How Sick Time is Paid & Managed

Regardless of your location, the following operational rules apply to all sick time requests:

• Daily Limit: Employees may use up to 8 hours of sick time per day, provided they have a sufficient balance available.
• No Deficits: Sick time may never be used in excess of your current accrued balance. Requests that exceed your available balance will be automatically denied.
• Pay Rate: All sick time is paid out at your standard base rate of pay.
• Overtime Calculations: Sick time hours do not count toward the calculation of overtime.

Important Note on Suspensions: Paid sick time may not be used to cover shifts missed during a suspension. It is completely ineligible to be applied or paid out for any hours missed while you are on an active suspension.

The 40-Hour Workweek Cap (Non-California Markets)

For employees outside of California, if the combined total of your actual hours worked and your submitted sick time exceeds 40 hours in a single workweek, payroll will only pay out the exact number of sick hours needed to bring your weekly total to 40. Any excess sick hours you requested will be safely returned to your accrued sick time balance.

Separation of Employment

Unused, accrued sick time is strictly intended for health and recovery purposes. Therefore, any remaining sick time left in your balance will not be paid out upon termination of employment, whether that separation is voluntary or involuntary.

Still Need Help?

To report missing sick time pay on your paycheck: If your sick time request was approved but you do not see the hours paid out on your corresponding paycheck, please click here to submit a Missing Sick Pay Review