Substitute Teacher Rights in California: Pay, Unemployment, Long-Term Subs

As a California substitute teacher, your rights depend on what kind of sub you are: a day-to-day sub, a long-term or temporary teacher, or a sub placed by a staffing agency. The Education Code decides your classification and when long service counts toward a regular job, the Unemployment Insurance Code decides summer benefits, and the Labor Code gives most subs paid sick leave, workers’ comp and protection from retaliation.

This guide is for subs who work for California school districts and county offices of education, or whom private agencies place in schools. Permanent and probationary teachers should read our public school teacher guide, which covers tenure, March 15 layoff notices and differential pay. Substitute aides and other non-credentialed staff should read our classified school employee guide; charter and private school subs, our private and charter school teacher guide.

1. Which pay rules apply to substitute teachers?

School districts are public employers, so most of the state wage orders don’t reach them. Section 1(B) of the orders (Wage Order 4 is an example) says that for employees directly employed by the state or a political subdivision, only sections 1, 2, 4, 10 and 20 apply. Section 4, the minimum wage, still covers your hours: $16.90 an hour in 2026 and $17.40 from January 1, 2027. The overtime, meal and rest break sections do not. The occupation order that lists teachers is Wage Order 4; our wage orders guide explains how orders are matched to jobs.

Federal overtime law rarely helps: under 29 CFR 541.303, teachers are exempt professionals with no salary test. Your daily rate comes from a substitute salary schedule the district’s board must adopt and publish (Education Code 45030). A higher long-term rate, if any, comes from that schedule or your union contract.

Agency-placed substitutes

If a private staffing company hires you and sends you to schools, it is your employer, and the wage orders and the Labor Code apply to it in full. The wage orders’ professional exemption requires, among other things, a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work ($70,304 a year in 2026, $72,384 in 2027). A sub paid by the day or the hour generally isn’t paid that kind of salary, so California overtime and break rules can apply. Labor Code §2810.3, which makes some client businesses share an agency’s wage liability, excludes “the state or any political subdivision of the state,” which likely includes a school district, so your wage claim is generally against the agency alone. See our temp agency worker guide.

By the numbers75%

2. Day-to-day subs, long-term subs and temporary teachers

Your Education Code label decides your rights.

• Substitute. Someone hired in a certificated position to fill in for an absent regular employee (Education Code 44917). After September 1, a district may also place a qualified person who consents, including a retired teacher, in substitute status for the rest of the year in a position no regular employee is available to fill, if it shows the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) it couldn’t find one.
• Temporary. A teacher hired for a full year, or at least a semester, to replace a certificated employee on leave or with a long-term illness (Education Code 44920).
• Written notice. At initial employment each academic year, the district must give you a written statement of your status and salary. If you were hired as temporary and the statement doesn’t make that clear, you are deemed probationary unless you are already permanent (Education Code 44916).

Until a temporary teacher reaches the 75% mark below, they serve “at the pleasure of the board” (Education Code 44954(a)), and subs do not get the March 15 layoff notice that regular teachers get.

When sub work counts toward a regular job

• One full year as a temporary employee. If you are rehired for the next school year in a position requiring certification, the district must classify you as probationary, and the temporary year counts as one year toward permanent status (Education Code 44917).
• The 75% rule. A substitute or temporary employee who serves at least 75 percent of the days the district’s regular schools were open in a school year, doing the duties normally required of a certificated employee, is deemed to have served a complete school year as a probationary employee if hired as a probationary employee for the next year (Education Code 44918(a)).
• Rehire rights. That person must be reemployed the next year to fill vacant positions, unless the district released them with notice before the end of the school year under Education Code 44954(b) (Education Code 44918(b)). Someone released but kept on as a temporary or sub for two consecutive years, meeting the same test, gets first priority for a vacancy at the grade level or subject taught (44918(c)).

None of Section 44918’s benefits go to subs employed on call to replace absent regular employees day to day (44918(d)), and the section does not apply in districts with average daily attendance above 250,000 (44918(f)). Laid-off permanent and probationary teachers keep priority for vacancies during their recall period, ahead of subs who became probationary under this section (44918(e)).

💡 Example: A hypothetical district holds 180 days of regular school. Dana, a long-term substitute, covers a vacant fifth-grade position for 140 of those days. Seventy-five percent of 180 is 135, so Dana meets the test. If she is hired as a probationary teacher next year, her sub year counts as a complete probationary year. If the district didn’t notify her before the end of the school year that she wouldn’t be reelected, it must reemploy her next year to fill a vacant position. (Hypothetical.)

How many days you can cover one class

The CTC’s Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit lets you substitute no more than 30 days for any one teacher in a school year in general education, and 20 days in special education; the permit is valid for one year and renewable (CTC leaflet CL-505p, updated October 23, 2026). A fully credentialed teacher can substitute indefinitely in a class that matches their credential.

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3. Unemployment between assignments and over the summer

Under Unemployment Insurance Code 1253.3(b), school instructional staff can’t collect benefits on that school work for weeks between academic years or terms if they worked the first and have a contract or “reasonable assurance” of work in the second. Vacations and holiday recesses work the same way (1253.3(d)).

• What counts as reasonable assurance. It includes an offer of employment or assignment that is not contingent on enrollment, funding or program changes. Being told you will be replaced, with no offer of work, does not count (1253.3(g)). EDD describes it as a written, spoken or implied agreement to work, with “the same pay and work conditions” as before.
• Sub lists. California’s Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board has said that “reasonable assurance of work as a substitute after the summer recess is sufficient” (Precedent Decision P-B-501, a case about a district’s substitute security officer). So a real offer to keep you on next year’s sub list can block summer benefits on school wages. EDD looks at the facts, including whether the offer is contingent and whether pay and conditions match.
• Other jobs. EDD may pay benefits based on wages from a non-school employer in your base period.
• If your assurance falls through, file right away. The statute’s retroactive-benefits rule (1253.3(c)) is written for non-teaching school staff, not for teachers in instructional roles, so don’t wait to see whether work comes through.
• Appeals to an administrative law judge are due within 30 days from service of EDD’s notice, extendable for good cause (Unemployment Insurance Code 1328).

More in our guide to collecting unemployment after a job loss.

4. Paid sick leave and other leave

California’s paid sick leave law covers public employers: Labor Code 245.5 defines “employer” to include the state, political subdivisions and municipalities. If you work for the same employer 30 or more days within a year of starting, you earn at least 40 hours or 5 days of paid sick leave a year, usable from your 90th day of employment (Labor Code §246). A retired public employee who draws a retirement allowance and works without reinstatement into the retirement system is not covered (Labor Code 245.5(a)(4)), which can include retired teachers who come back as subs. Some employees under qualifying union contracts are also excluded. See our paid sick leave guide.

Long-term subs who reach 12 months of service and 1,250 hours in the prior year may also qualify for CFRA leave; see FMLA and CFRA leave rights and pregnancy disability leave.

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5. Pay problems we see in this job

Practice	Is it legal?	Law
Hiring you as a “temporary” teacher without a written statement saying so	No. Without it, you are deemed probationary unless you are already permanent.	Ed. Code 44916
A full year as a temporary teacher, then rehiring you the next year without probationary status	No. You must be classified probationary, with the year counted.	Ed. Code 44917
Paying less than the board’s published substitute rate	No. The board must adopt and publish the substitute salary schedule.	Ed. Code 45030
No paid sick leave after 30 days of work in a year (non-retiree)	Generally no.	Labor Code 245.5, 246
An agency paying a flat day rate with no overtime for days over 8 hours	Often not, unless you meet the professional exemption, including its salary test.	Labor Code 510; Wage Order 4, section 1(A)(3)
Agency pay stubs that leave out hours worked or hourly rates	No.	Labor Code 226

Key fact

6. Safety, injuries and workers’ comp

Subs are covered by workers’ comp, whether a district or an agency employs you. Report an injury to your employer in writing within 30 days (Labor Code §5400). Once your employer knows, it must give you a claim form within one working day (Labor Code §5401), and the general deadline to start a claim is one year (Labor Code §5405).

Temporary disability pay turns on “average weekly earnings.” Irregular earnings are averaged over up to a year (§4453(c)(3)); if you work under 30 hours a week, they are set at what “reasonably represents” your earning capacity, counting all your jobs (Labor Code §4453(c)(4)). For 2026 injuries, temporary disability is at least $264.61 and at most $1,764.11 a week (DIR).

If a pupil attacks, assaults or physically threatens you, Education Code 44014 requires a prompt report to law enforcement and bars punishing you for making it. Since July 1, 2024, Labor Code §6401.9 has required most employers, school districts included, to keep a workplace violence prevention plan that bars retaliation against people who report. See workers’ comp for workplace assaults.

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7. Retaliation, discrimination and union rights

Protected activity	Protection	Law
Reporting fraud, waste, illegal orders or a serious health or safety threat	No reprisal	Ed. Code 44112–44114; Labor Code 1102.5 (Labor Code 1106 covers school district employees)
Union activity or grievances, if your district’s subs are in a bargaining unit	No reprisal or interference	Gov. Code 3543, 3543.5 (EERA)
Reporting a student assault to police	No sanctions for reporting	Ed. Code 44014
Complaining about unsafe conditions	No discharge or discrimination	Labor Code 6310
Filing a workers’ comp claim	No discrimination for claiming benefits	Labor Code 132a
Using or asking to use paid sick leave	No retaliation	Labor Code 246.5
Opposing discrimination or harassment, or asking for an accommodation	No retaliation	Gov. Code 12940 (FEHA)

Before suing for damages under Education Code 44114, you must file your written retaliation complaint, with a sworn statement, with local law enforcement within 12 months of the last reprisal. More on retaliation claims.

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8. What you can recover, and the deadlines

Remedies can include back pay, reclassification or reemployment, damages and attorney’s fees where a statute allows. Many damages claims against a district need a government claim first, within six months or one year (Government Code 911.2); wage claims are excepted (Government Code 905(c)).

Claim	Deadline	Law
Appeal of an EDD unemployment determination	30 days from service of the notice (extendable for good cause)	Unemp. Ins. Code 1328
PERB unfair practice charge	6 months	Gov. Code 3541.5(a)
Ed. Code whistleblower complaint to law enforcement	12 months from the last reprisal	Ed. Code 44114
Discrimination, harassment or retaliation complaint with the Civil Rights Department	3 years	Gov. Code 12960(e)
Unpaid wages from a private agency	Generally 3 years (4 under the Unfair Competition Law)	Code Civ. Proc. 338(a); Bus. & Prof. Code 17208
Workers’ comp injury notice / claim	30 days / generally 1 year	Labor Code 5400, 5405

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9. What to do now

1. Keep an assignment log: date, school, and whether you covered an absence or a vacancy.
2. Save your paperwork: status statement, pay stubs, any offer for next year.
3. Ask HR in writing how you are classified when an assignment runs long.
4. Request your personnel file (Education Code 44031; Labor Code 1198.5).
5. File with EDD if you have no real assurance of work, and appeal a denial within 30 days.
6. Get legal advice early if you were passed over for a vacancy or pushed out after a report.

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Frequently asked questions

Can substitute teachers collect unemployment in the summer in California?

Usually not on school wages if you have reasonable assurance of work next term. With no real offer, or with non-school wages, you may qualify. EDD decides.

Do long-term substitutes get paid like regular teachers?

Only if your district’s substitute salary schedule or union contract says so.

Does substitute teaching count toward tenure?

It can, through the one-year temporary rule or the 75% rule, if you are hired as a probationary teacher the next year. On-call, day-to-day work doesn’t count.

Do substitute teachers get paid sick leave?

Most do, after 30 days of work in a year. Retirees working without reinstatement are excluded.

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Laws this guide relies on

Law	What it does	Link
Ed. Code 44916, 44917, 44920	Classification, written status statement, temporary-to-probationary rule	Statute (44917)
Ed. Code 44918, 44954	75% rule, rehire rights, release of temporary employees	Statute (44918)
Ed. Code 45030	Substitute salary schedules	Statute
Unemp. Ins. Code 1253.3, 1328	Reasonable assurance; appeal deadline	Statute (1253.3)
Labor Code 245.5, 246	Paid sick leave coverage and amounts	Our §246 guide
Labor Code 2810.3	Client employer liability for agency wages (public entities excluded)	Our §2810.3 guide
Ed. Code 44112–44114	Whistleblower protection for school employees	Statute (44114)

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Sources

• Education Code 44918 (75% rule and rehire rights)
• Education Code 44916 (written statement of status)
• CTC: Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit (CL-505p)
• CTC: Substitute teaching assignments
• Unemployment Insurance Code 1253.3 (reasonable assurance)
• EDD: School employees and unemployment
• CUIAB Precedent Decision P-B-501 (reasonable assurance of substitute work)
• Education Code 44917 (substitute and temporary classification)
• Labor Code 245.5 (paid sick leave definitions)
• IWC Wage Order 4, sections 1(A)(3) and 1(B)
• 29 CFR 541.303 (teaching professionals)
• DIR News Release 2026-66 (2027 minimum wage)
• DIR News Release 2025-116 (2026 temporary disability rates)

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