Employers in the City by the Bay must now give paid sick leave to all their workers — even, in some cases, when they're not sick. One provision of the law allows workers without families to call in sick to care for a friend or neighbor — all on the boss' dime.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure, which is the first law of its kind in the country. It mandates sick pay for everyone from full-time cab drivers to part-time nannies. The law provides up to 9 paid sick days a year to an estimated 115,000 workers, including low-wage earners who, according to labor activists, can't otherwise afford to skip work.