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Paid Sick Leave: State Law Synopsis

Tuesday, November 29, 2022
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As a rising trend, states across the country are enacting their own paid sick leave laws. Currently, 14 states and the District of Columbia have enacted statewide laws requiring employers to provide employees with paid sick leave benefits. An additional two states – Maine and Nevada – have laws mandating paid employee leave for any reason. Employers that are subject to these laws may face compliance challenges as they update their existing leave policies for the new requirements.

Each of these state laws has its own rules for covered employers, qualifying reasons for leave and amount of paid leave. This Compliance Overview includes a chart that provides a high-level overview of current statewide paid leave laws.

Localities across the country have also passed ordinances mandating paid sick leave. For example, New York City; Chicago; and Montgomery County, Maryland all have paid sick leave ordinances. Employers must generally comply with both the statewide paid sick leave laws and local ordinances.

Statewide Paid Sick Leave

These states have paid sick leave laws:

  • Arizona
  • California
  • Connecticut
  • Colorado
  • District of Colombia
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • Nevada
  • Oregon
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont
  • Washington

Local Laws

Employers must determine whether they are required to comply with any local paid sick leave ordinances in addition to statewide paid sick leave laws.

Links and Resources

Many states with paid sick leave laws have created websites regarding paid sick leave requirements. For example:

  • Massachusetts has a dedicated website with information on the earned sick time law.
  • Washington has a website with FAQs and other resources on its paid sick leave law.

Sick Leave Laws

STATE COVERED EMPLOYEES MAJOR PROVISIONS

Arizona

Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act

Effective July 1, 2017

 All employers  

Eligible employees: All employees working in Arizona.

Accrual: One hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked; accrual begins upon hire.

Accrual limits: Employers with 15 or more employees may limit employee accruals to 40 hoursper year. Employers with fewer than 15 employees may limit employee accruals to 24 hours per year.

Waiting period: Employers may require newly hired employees to wait 90 days before using accrued paid sick leave.

More information: Earned Sick Time FAQs

 

California

Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act

Effective July 1, 2015

 All employers  

Eligible employees: An employee who works for the same employer in California for 30 or more days during a year. Employees subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act are not covered by all provisions.

Accrual: One hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Employers may limit employee paid sick leave accruals to 48 hours (or six workdays) per year.

Waiting period: Employers may require newly hired employees to wait 90 days before using accrued paid sick leave.

More information: California Paid Sick Leave FAQs

 

Colorado

Healthy Families and Workplaces Act

Supplemental public health emergency leave effective for all employers Jan. 1, 2021

Paid sick leave effective for employers with at least 16 employees Jan. 1, 2021

Paid sick leave effective for all employers Jan. 1, 2022

 All employers  

Eligible employees: All employees. Employees subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, and employees under certain collective bargaining agreements are not covered.

Accrual: One hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Accrual limits: 48 hours per year.

Waiting period: None. Employees may use leave as it is accrued.

More information: Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics Interpretive Notice  & Formal Opinion #s 6A, 6B and 6C

 

Connecticut

Paid Sick Leave

Effective Jan. 1, 2012

 Employers with 50 or more employees (certain types of employers are exempt)  

Eligible employees: All full- and part-time service workers. Day or temporary workers, per diem employees and employees who are exempt from the federal FLSA are specifically excluded.

Accrual: One hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Employers may limit employee paid sick leave accruals to 40 hours per year.

Waiting period: Service workers may use accrued sick leave after working 680 hours from the date of hire, if they worked an average of at least 10 hours per week in the most recent calendar quarter.

More information: Connecticut Department of Labor Paid Sick Leave Overview

 

District of Columbia

Accrued Sick and Safe Leave

Effective Nov. 13, 2008

 All employers  

Eligible employees: All employees. Employees under certain collective bargaining agreements are exempt.

Accrual: Depends on employer size, as follows:

  • 100 or more employees—at least one hour of paid leave for every 37 hours worked.
  • 25-99 employees—at least one hour of paid leave for every 43 hours worked.
  • 24 or fewer employees—at least one hour of paid leave for every 87 hours worked.
  • Restaurants or bars—at least one hour of paid time for every 43 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Depend on employer size, as follows:

  • 100 or more employees—up to seven days per year.
  • 25-99 employees—up to five days per year.
  • 24 or fewer—up to three days per year.
  • Tipped employees of restaurants or bars—up to five days per year.

Waiting period: 90 days.

More information: Washington, D.C. Department of Employment Services

 

Maryland

Healthy Working Families Act

Effective Feb. 11, 2018

 

All employers

Employers with 15 or more employees must provide paid sick and safe leave

Employers with fewer than 15 employees must provide unpaid sick and safe leave

 

Eligible employees: Employees who regularly work 12 or more hours per week. Minors, construction workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement, agricultural employees, temporary employees and “as needed” workers in a health or human services industry are specifically excluded.

Accrual: One hour of sick and safe leave for every 30 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Employers may limit employee sick and safe leave accruals to 40 hours per year.

Waiting period: Employers may prohibit use of accrued sick and safe leave for an employee’s first 106 days of employment.

More information: Maryland Paid Sick and Safe Leave FAQs

 

Maine
Earned Employee Leave Law

Effective Jan. 1, 2021

 

Employers with more than 10 employees must provide paid leave for any reason

 Seasonal industries are exempt

 

Eligible employees: All employees. Does not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement as of Jan. 1, 2021, until the agreement expires.

Accrual: One hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked.

Accrual limits: 40 hours per year.

Waiting period: 120 days. Employees employed by their employer for at least 120 days before Jan. 1, 2021, may use leave as soon as it is earned.

More information: Maine Department of Labor

 

Massachusetts

Earned Sick Time

Effective July 1, 2015

 

All employers

Employers with 11 or more employees must provide paid sick time

Employers with fewer than 11 employees must provide unpaid sick time

 

Eligible employees: All employees—including part-time, temporary and seasonal employees—working in Massachusetts.

Accrual: One hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Employers may limit employee sick time accruals to 40 hours per year.

Waiting period: Employers may restrict the use of earned sick time for an employee’s first 90 days of employment.

More information: Massachusetts Attorney General Earned Sick Time Information

 

Michigan

Paid Medical Leave Act

Effective March 29, 2019

 Employers with 50 or more employees  

Eligible employees: All employees, except for collectively bargained employees, employees who are exempt from federal overtime requirements, part-time employees, and variable-hour and seasonal employees.

Accrual: One hour of paid medical leave for every 35 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Employers may limit employees’ use of paid medical leave to 40 hours per year.

Waiting period: Employers may require employees to wait 90 calendar days before using accrued paid medical leave.

More information: Paid Medical Leave FAQs

Note: The Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act is the subject of ongoing litigation with respect to the constitutionality of amendments made to the law before it took effect. The amendments affected employer and employee exemptions, accrual rate, limits on yearly use of leave, and other provisions.

 

New Jersey

Paid Sick Leave Act

Effective Oct. 29, 2018

All employers  

Eligible employees: All employees, except for construction workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement and per diem health care workers.

Accrual: One hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Employers do not have to allow employees to accrue more than 40 hours of paid sick leave per benefit year.

Waiting period: Employers may require employees to wait 120 calendar days after the employee’s hire date to use any accrued paid sick leave.

More information: New Jersey Paid Sick Leave Act

 

New Mexico

Healthy Workplaces Act

Effective July 1, 2022

All private employers  

Eligible employees: All employees of private employers, including part-time, seasonal and temporary employees.

Accrual: One hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, or employers may frontload 64 hours of paid leave on Jan. 1 each year.

Accrual limits: Leave carries over from year to year, but employee use of leave may be capped at 64 hours annually.

Waiting period: None. Leave begins accruing and may be used at the start of employment or July 1, 2022, whichever is later.

More informationPaid sick leave FAQs

 

Nevada

Paid Leave Law

Effective Jan. 1, 2020

Private employers with 50 or more employees

Does not apply during employers’ first two years of operation

 

Eligible employees: All employees of private employers except temporary, seasonal and on-call workers.

Accrual: Leave accrues at the rate of 0.01923 hours per hour worked, and it may be used for any reason.

Accrual limits: 40 hours per year.

Waiting period: 90 days.

More information: Nevada Labor Commissioner’s advisory opinion on the paid leave law

 

New York

Paid Sick Leave Law

Effective Sept. 30, 2020

 

All employers

Employers with five or more employees must provide paid sick time

Employers with fewer than five employees and income of $1 million or less must provide sick time that may be unpaid

 

Eligible employees: All private-sector employees. Collective bargaining agreements entered into after Sept. 30, 2020, are not required to provide paid sick leave under the statute if they provide comparable benefits and acknowledge the paid sick leave law.

Accrual: One hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Vary by employer size and income, as follows:

  • Fewer than five employees, annual net income $1 million or less: 40 unpaid hours per year
  • Fewer than five employees, annual net income over $1 million: 40 paid hours per year
  • Five-99 employees: 40 paid hours per year
  • 100 or more employees: 56 paid hours per year

Waiting period: None.

More information: New York State Paid Sick Leave FAQs

 

Oregon

Sick Time Leave

Effective Jan. 1, 2016

All employers

Employers with 10 or more employees (six or more for operations in Portland) must provide paid sick time

Employers with fewer than 10 employees must provide unpaid sick time

 

Eligible employees: All employees—including part-time, full-time, commissioned and piece-rate employees.

Accrual: One hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked or 1⅓ hours of sick time for every 40 hours worked.

Accrual limits: Employers may limit employee sick time accruals to 40 hours per year.

Waiting period: Employers may restrict the use of sick time until the employee’s 91st day of employment.

More information: Sick Time website and FAQs

 

Rhode Island

Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act

Effective July 1, 2018

 

All employers

Employers with 18 or more employees must provide paid sick and safe leave

Employers with fewer than 18 employees may provide sick and safe leave as unpaid

 

Eligible employees: All Rhode Island employees, except for independent contractors, subcontractors, federal work-study participants and interns.

Accrual: One hour of sick and safe leave for every 35 hours worked.

Accrual limits: 40 hours annually.

Waiting period: Employers may require employees to wait 90 days before using any accrued paid sick and safe leave (180 days for temporary employees, or 150 days for seasonal employees).

More information: Rhode Island Sick and Safe Leave Fact Sheet

 

Vermont

Earned Sick Time Law

Effective Jan. 1, 2017

All employers

(One-year exception for new employers)

 

Eligible employees: All employees working at least 18 hours per week during a year. Minors, short-term employees (20 weeks or fewer), per diem or intermittent employees, federal workers and certain state workers are specifically excluded.

Accrual: One hour of paid sick time for every 52 hours worked.

Accrual limits: 40 hours in a 12-month period.

Waiting period: Employers may require new employees to wait one year before using accrued paid sick time.

More information: Vermont Earned Sick Time Law FAQs

 

Washington

Employee Sick Leave

Effective Jan. 1, 2018

All employers subject to Washington’s Minimum Wage Act  

Eligible employees: All employees working for a Washington employer. Employees who are exempt from Washington’s Minimum Wage Act are excluded. Ride-share drivers must be provided with paid sick leave as of Jan. 1, 2023. The law does not cover construction workers under a collective bargaining agreement that provides equivalent leave and expressly waives coverage under the statute.

Accrual: One hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.

Accrual limits: The law provides no limit on the amount of paid sick leave an employee may use or accrue each year.

Waiting period: Employers may require employees to wait 90 days before using accrued paid sick leave.

More information: Washington State Department of Labor & Industries

Material posted on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a legal opinion or medical advice. Contact your legal representative or medical professional for information specific to your legal or medical needs.