Workplace Fairness

As of July 1, 2017, Arizona employees gain eligibility or accrue hours for paid sick leave. The Fair Wages and Health Families Act mandates that full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees be granted paid sick leave. Workers will earn one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with 15 or fewer employees must provide 24 hours of paid sick leave each year. Those with more than 15 employees must provide 40 hours each year.  

Earned paid sick time may be used for the following reasons:

• Medical care or mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of the employee or any of the employee’s family members;
• A public health emergency affecting the employee or a family member of the employee; or
• An absence due to domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking involving the employee or any of the employee’s family members.
  

“Employer” for purposes of earned paid sick time is any corporation, proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, trust, association, political subdivision of the state, individual or other entity acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but does not include the state of Arizona or the United States.

If the time is not used, sick leave can be cashed out or rolled over at the employer’s discretion. Only 40 hours per week are required. This does not apply to employees who are let go. There is no expiration date for this law. See this FAQ for more information.

Paid Leave and COVID-19

In Arizona employees may take paid sick leave due to COVID-19 if they fall within one of the following categories:

• An employee or a family member contracts COVID-19.
• An employee or family member needs to get tested for COVID-19.
• An employee or family member needs to quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 (a healthcare provider or public health official must determine that the quarantine is necessary).
• If the employee’s place of business has been closed by a public official due to COVID-19.
• If the employee needs to take care of a child whose school has closed due to COVID-19.

For employers with 15 or more employees, employees are entitled to accrue one hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, but employees are not entitled to accrue or use more than 40 hours of earned paid sick time per year, unless the employer selects a higher limit.

There is no expiration date for the law.

In California, a state law mandating paid sick leave fully went into effect on July 1, 2015. This law provides employees who work in California for 30 or more days within a year from the beginning of employment with paid sick leave. Employees, including part-time and temporary employees, earn at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. An employer may limit the amount of paid sick leave an employee can use in one year to 24 hours or three days. Accrued paid sick leave may be carried over to the next year, but it may be capped at 48 hours or six days. However, this law does not apply to employees covered by qualifying collective bargaining agreements, In-Home Supportive Services providers, and certain employees of air carriers.

"Employer” means any person who directly employs five or more persons to perform services for a wage or salary and state, and any political or civil subdivision of the state and cities. The act does not include a definition for “employee.”There is no expiration date for the law. See the California Family Rights Act for more information.

As a result of the California Family Rights Act, employees throughout California can use sick leave or take leave under to care for a “designated person.” A designated person is defined as any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is equivalent to a family relationship. An employee can designate this person at the time they request leave.  An employer can limit an employee to one person in a 12-month period as the employee’s designated person. 

Employers with employees working in locales with local paid sick leave ordinances will need to evaluate the need for revisions to policies and procedures. Some local paid sick ordinances already allow the use of sick leave to care for a designated person and provide a process for making such designations. See the law for more informaiton. See the law for more information.

Berkeley’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance went into effect on October 1, 2017. It requires that employers provide paid sick leave to employees at the rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers, regardless of where they are located, must provide paid sick leave to their employees who perform at least two hours of work per week within the geographic limits of Berkeley. Employers with fewer than 25 employees may cap an employee’s accrual of paid sick leave at 48 hours. Employers with 25 or more employees may cap accrual of paid sick leave at 72 hours. An employee may use sick leave for when they are ill, injured or receiving medical care. They may also use it to care for a child, parent, legal guardian, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, registered domestic partner, or designated person.

Effective July 1, 2015, Emeryville’s city ordinance requires paid sick leave for most employees working within the city limits. The ordinance was amended, and the amendments went into effect February 2, 2016. Employees of small businesses (55 or fewer employees) may accrue 48 hours of paid sick leave a year, and employees of large businesses (56 or more employees) may accrue up to 72 hours a year. Employees may use the paid sick leave to care for their own illness or condition, a family member’s illness or condition, or their designated individual. Additionally, the employee can use this leave to care for a service dog. More information can be found here.

Los Angeles employers must either grant 48 hours at the beginning of each year or 12-month period or allow accrual at no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers may cap usage at 48 hours of leave annually but they cannot cap total accrual to less than 72 hours. Accrued sick hours do not need to be paid upon separation of employment. If an employee is rehired within 1 year, the employer must reinstate previously accrued sick leave. Sick leave may be used for employees themselves or for taking care of a family member. See the City of Los Angeles website for more information.

Oakland also has its own paid sick leave ordinance. Employees who perform at least 2 hours of work in a particular week within Oakland are entitled to accrue paid sick leave.

Covered employees accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work. Small businesses defined as having less than 10 employees who work for compensation in a given week, may cap paid sick leave hours at 40 hours, and all other employers may cap paid sick leave at 72 hours.

Employers must allow employees to use accrued paid sick leave in their “bank” in the following instances:

• When an employee is physically or mentally unable to perform his/her duties due to illness, injury, pregnancy, or medical condition;

• To obtain a professional diagnosis or treatment of his/her medical condition or undergo a physical examination; and

• To aid or care for a child, parent, legal guardian or ward, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, spouse, registered domestic partner, or a “designated person” who is ill, injured, or receiving medical care, treatment or diagnosis.

A “designated person” is defined as an individual the employee designates to provide care for the employee if the employee does not have a spouse or registered domestic partner. See the city of Oakland website for more information.

The San Diego Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance went into effect on July 11, 2016. It requires that all employers provide paid earned sick leave to each employee who performs at least two hours of work within the geographical boundaries of San Diego. Employers must provide at least 40 hours at the beginning of the year or one hour of earned sick leave for every 30 hours worked. This can be capped at 80 hours. More information can be found here.

Under the San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, employers must provide paid sick leave to every employee who performs work either full or part-time in San Francisco. Paid sick time begins to accrue 90 days after the employee’s first day of work. Employees earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work. Sick leave is calculated in hour-unit increments, not in fractions of an hour. For employers with less than 10 employees, the required paid sick leave is capped at 40 hours. For employers with 10 or more employees, paid sick leave is capped at 72 hours. Sick leave time earned does not expire and carries over to the next year. However, an employee can use as many sick leave hours in one year as they wish, so long as they have not reached the total cap.

Sick leave can be taken for illness, injury or to seek medical treatment or diagnosis for the employee, a family member or other designated person. If the employee does not have a spouse or registered domestic partner, they may designate one person. An employee may change the designated person once per year within 10 days from when sick leave begins to accrue. An employee who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking may use paid sick leave in some circumstances. There is no expiration date for the ordinance.

San Francisco’s “Domestic Workers’ Equal Access to Paid Sick Leave Ordinance,”  provides domestic workers with paid sick leave . It establishes  a “portable” paid sick leave benefit that allows people who work for multiple households to earn and consolidate benefits from several “hiring entities” and access that paid leave as they move between jobs. Under the ordinance, domestic workers accrue right to paid sick leave equal to not less than one hour of net pay, at the domestic worker’s regular rate of pay, for every 30 hours of work.

• Domestic worker” includes any individual who is employed by or contracts with a hiring entity to provide labor or services in a residence.
• Hiring Entity “hiring entity” as any person, as defined in Section 18 of the California Labor Code, including corporate officers or executives, who directly or indirectly or through an agent or any other person, including through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity, employs, contracts with, or hires a domestic worker.

There is no expiration date for this ordinance.

The Public Health Emergency Leave Ordinance requires businesses with 100 or more employees worldwide to provide up to 80 hours of paid Public Health Emergency Leave to each employee who performs work in San Francisco. The paid leave is in addition to any paid time off, including paid sick leave under the San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance. 

Employees may use this leave when they are unable to work (or telework) due to the following:

(1) The recommendations or requirements of an individual or general federal, state, or local health order (including an order issued by the local jurisdiction in which an Employee or a Family Member the Employee is caring for resides) related to the Public Health Emergency.

(2) The Employee, or a Family Member the Employee is caring for, has been advised by a Healthcare Provider to isolate or quarantine.

(3) The Employee, or a Family Member the Employee is caring for, is experiencing symptoms of and seeking a medical diagnosis, or has received a positive medical diagnosis, for a possible infectious, contagious, or communicable disease associated with the Public Health Emergency.

(4) The Employee is caring for a Family Member if the school or place of care of the Family Member has been closed, or the care provider of such Family Member is unavailable, due to the Public Health Emergency.

(5) An Air Quality Emergency, if the Employee is a member of a Vulnerable Population and primarily works outdoors. 

The Minimum Wage Ordinance requires Santa Monica employers to provide 40 hours (for businesses with 25 or fewer employees) or 72 hours (for businesses of 26 or more employees) of paid sick leave. Accrual rate is 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers must carry over accrued, unused sick leave annually. Sick leave use follows State guidelines.The Minimum Wage Ordinance requires Santa Monica employers to provide 40 hours (for businesses with 25 or fewer employees) or 72 hours (for businesses of 26 or more employees) of paid sick leave. Accrual rate is 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers must carry over accrued, unused sick leave annually. Sick leave use follows State guidelines. More information can be found here.

Colorado enacted the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act to provide employees in the state with paid sick leave. All employers must provide their employees with one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers can cap employees use of paid sick leave at 48 hours. The Minimum Wage Ordinance requires Santa Monica employers to provide 40 hours (for businesses with 25 or fewer employees) or 72 hours (for businesses of 26 or more employees) of paid sick leave. Accrual rate is 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers must carry over accrued, unused sick leave annually. Paid sick leave can be used for:

• (i) employees’ mental or physical illnesses, need for diagnosis or treatment, or preventative care;
• (ii) caring for sick family members (defined as a person who is related by blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption; a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis or a person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a minor; or a person for whom the employee is responsible for providing or arranging health-or safety-related care) requiring diagnosis, treatment, or preventative care;
• (iii) victims of domestic violence, harassment, or sexual abuse or need to assist family members who are victims of such conduct, and seek medical attention or counseling relating to such abuse; or
• (iv) instances where a public health official has ordered the closure of the employee’s place of business or the employee’s child’s school or place of care due to a public health emergency and the employee must therefore provide care to the child.
• More information can be found here.

The Connecticut Family Leave Act enables eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for the following:

• Birth of a child and care for the child within the first year after birth;
• The placement of a child for adoption or foster care and care for the child;
• Care for a family member with a serious health condition;
• Because of an employee’s own serious health condition;
• To serve as an organ or bone marrow donor;
• To address qualifying exigencies arising from a spouse, son, daughter or parent’s active-duty service in the armed forces; and
• To care for a spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin with a serious injury or illness incurred on active duty in the armed forces.

Employees may take up to 2 additional weeks of leave during the 12-month period for a serious health condition resulting in incapacitation that occurs during a pregnancy. The ConnecIt also allows eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.

“Employee” means any person engaged in service to an employer in the business of the employer. “Employer” means a person engaged in any activity, enterprise or business who employs seventy-five or more employees, and includes any person who acts, directly or indirectly, in the interest of an employer to any of the employees of such employer and any successor in interest of an employer, but shall not include the state, a municipality, a local or regional board of education, or a private or parochial elementary or secondary school. The number of employees of an employer shall be determined on October first annually. See the Connecticut Department of Labor website for more information.

Employers with 10 or more employees must provide none hour of paid sick leave for each 40 hours worked. This is capped at 40 hours per year. Currently, the law allows for carryover of unused leave; however, if the employee rolls over a certain amount from one year to the next, they are only entitled to accrue 40 minus the total accrued amount from the previous year, so the maximum total each year is 40 hours. Maine’s law is the only one in the national that allows employees to use paid leave for any reason, including personal, family or medical reasons. Seasonal employees are not eligible for paid sick leave, and this law does not apply to employees with collective bargaining agreements. Currently, the law does not include any rules for carrying over unused time. There is no expiration date for the law. More information can be found here.

The Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law states that employers with more than 10 employees must provide 1 hour of guaranteed sick leave for every 30 hours worked, not to exceed 40 hours per year. Employees can use this time if they are ill, injured, or need to attend to a medical condition for themselves, a spouse, a child, parent, or parent of a spouse. Employers with 10 or fewer employees are not required to provide paid sick leave, but they must provide unpaid sick leave under the same circumstances. Employees can carryover up to 40 hours of unused paid sick leave to the next year.

Effective March 29, 2019, Michigan’s Paid Medical Leave Act requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide paid medical leave. According to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, employees would accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked and up to 40 hours per year. Employers are allowed to limit an employee's time to one hour per week.  In addition, employees are allowed to provide all 40 hours to sick leave at the start of a benefit year to avoid carry over into the next. For new employees, time will begin to accrue on the effective date or date of hire, but an employer can choose to withhold paid leave until the person has reached 90 days. More information can be found here.

On May 31, 2018, Duluth enacted the Earned Sick and Safe Time Ordinance, which imposes paid sick leave obligations on employers beginning on January 1, 2020.  The law requires employers with five or more employees, which is measured by averaging the number of employees per week during the previous calendar year regardless of whether they work in Duluth, must provide paid sick and safe time (“PSST”) to their Duluth employees. An employee spends more than 50 percent of his or her working time in Duluth or is based in Duluth and does not spend more than 50 percent of working time in another place. The law also requires that employees must accrue PSST at least as fast as one hour of earned PSST for every 50 hours worked, up to 64 hours per year. Employers can limit employees’ use of PSST to 40 hours per year.

Note that if employers decide to front-load earned sick and safe time, then they are not required to allow employees to carry over unused hours to the next year. Front-loading is when an employer provides employees with 40 hours of earned sick and safe time at the beginning of each year. There is no expiration date for this law. More information can be found here.

The Minneapolis, Minnesota’s mandatory paid sick leave ordinance took effect on July 1, 2017. The ordinance requires employers with six or more employees to provide employees who work more than 80 hours a year with “one (1) hour of sick and safe time for every thirty (30) hours worked up to a maximum of forty-eight (48) hours in a … year.” Employees may use the leave for atheir own, or a family member’s, needs related to health, domestic abuse, sexual assault, stalking, and school, daycare, and workplace closings. The ordinance also requires employers to track the accrual and use of leave time. There is no expiration date for the ordinance. More information can be found here.

On January 1, 2018 all Saint Paul employers, of an size, with employees working in Saint Paul must provide Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) to their employees. Saint Paul’s Ordinance requires employers to provide earned safe and sick time for workers in Saint Paul. Employees must work at least 80 hours a year in St. Paul. Employees accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. This is capped at 48 hours annually, but employees can accrue up to 80 hours of earned sick time because they can carryover from year to the next. Employees can use this time if they are ill, injured, or need to attend to a medical condition for themselves or a family member. Covered family members include “any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.” There is no expiration date for this ordinance. More information can be found here.

Oregon law requires that employers with 10 or more employees, or 6 or more employees if the employer has operations in Portland, provide paid sick time. Employers may front load 40 hours of leave for employees or allow employees can accrue 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. There is no deadline for the law. More information can be found here.

Paid Leave and Emergencies. Eligible employees may take protected sick leave for absences connected to: (1) an emergency evacuation order of level 2 (SET) or level 3 (GO) issued by a public official with the authority to do so, if the affected area subject to the order includes either the location of the employer’s place of business or the employee’s home address; or (2) a determination by a public official with the authority to do so that the air quality index or heat index is at a level where continued exposure to such levels would jeopardize the employee’s health.  

During a public emergency, eligible employees can also use protected paid sick leave for the following reasons: (1) closure of the employee’s place of business, or the school or place of care of the employee’s child, by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; (2) a determination by a lawful public health authority or by a health care provider that the presence of the employee or the employee’s family member in the community would jeopardize the health of others, such that the employee must provide self-care or care for the family member; or (3) the exclusion of the employee from the workplace under any law or rule that requires the employer to exclude the employee from the workplace for health reasons. See the law for more information.

In Portland, an employer must provide full-time, part-time and temporary employees to accrue 1 hour of protected sick time for every 30 hours worked, not to exceed 40 hours per week. For employers with more than 5 employees, this sick time must be paid. For employers with 5 or fewer employees, employers must provide up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave. Sick time can be used to cover all or part of a shift. It can be used for to care for health issues of the employer or a family member or domestic and sexual violence issues for the employee or their family members.

More information can be found here.

The Healthy and Safe Families and Workplace Act requires employers with 18 or more employees to offer paid sick leave. Employers with fewer than 18 employees must provide at least unpaid sick leave. Employees accrue one hour for every 35 hours worked. This is capped at 40 hours per year. Paid sick time can be used for the employees physical or mental health needs or for a family member’s mental or physical needs. There is no expiration date for the law. More information can be found here.

The D.C. Universal Paid Leave Act entitles employees to the following maximum paid leave:

• 12 workweeks of parental leave;
• 12 workweeks of family leave;
• 12 workweeks of medical leave; and
• 2 workweeks of pre-natal leave.

Covered Employee. A covered employee is any worker of a covered employer who spends more than 50% of his or her work time for that employer working in the District of Columbia; or whose employment for the covered employer is based in the District and who regularly spends a substantial amount of his or her work time for that covered employer in the District and not more than 50% of his or her work time for that covered employer in another jurisdiction.

Covered Employer. A covered employer is any individual, partnership, general contractor, subcontractor, association, corporation, business trust, or any group of persons who directly or indirectly or through an agent or any other person, including through the services of a temporary services or staffing agency or similar entity, employs or exercises control over the wages, hours, or working conditions of an employee and is required to pay unemployment insurance on behalf of its employee. A covered employer is also a selfemployed individual who has opted into the paid-leave program established pursuant to the Paid Leave Act.

See the D.C. website for more information on paid leave.

The Vermont Earned Sick Time Law requires that employers allow their employees to accrue up to 40 hours of paid leave annually. Employees may earn one hour of sick leave for every 52 hours worked. Employees who work 18 hours per week or more are eligible to accrue paid leave. 

“Employee” means any person who, in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit is employed by an employer for an average of not less than 18 hours per week. To calculate if an employee has worked an average of 18 hours per week an employer shall, on a yearly basis, divide the number of hours worked by the employee in the last completed calendar year by 52. If an individual has been employed for an average of not less than 18 hours per week in the prior calendar year, the individual’s accrual of sick time shall be deemed to have commenced on the first day of that year. The previous calendar year calculation shall not be applied to those individuals hired during that calendar year who are anticipated to work an average of more than 18 hours a week.

“Employer” means any individual, organization, or governmental body, partnership, association, corporation, legal representative, trustee, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, and any common carrier by rail, motor, water, air or express company doing business or operating within this state.

There is no expiration on the law. More information can be found here.

The New Jersey Earned Sick Leave Law entitles employees to accrue 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. The law permits that employers employ other policies that provide for additional leave time. 

• "Employee" means an individual engaged in service to an employer in the business of the employer for compensation. “Employee” does not include an employee performing service in the construction industry that is under contract pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement, or a per diem health care employee, or a public employee who is provided with sick leave with full pay pursuant to any other law, rule, or regulation of this State. 
• Employer" means any person, firm, business, educational institution, nonprofit agency, corporation, limited liability company or other entity that employs employees in the State, including a temporary help service firm. 

There is no expiration date for this law. More information can be found here.

All private sector workers employed in these cities are entitled to paid sick leave. Those employees who are covered by law will accrue paid sick leave at the rate of 1 hour per every 30 hours worked. Generally, employers with fewer than 10 employees may cap accrued sick leave at 24 hours per year, and employers with 10 or more employees may cap accrued sick leave at 40 hours per year. However, child care workers, home health care workers, and food service workers can only be capped at 40 hours per year regardless of their employer’s size. Covered employees may use their accrued leave for their own illness or condition, for a family member’s, or in the case of a public health emergency.

In Jersey City, private sector employees who work for employers with more than 10 employees earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, not to exceed 40 hours per year. Employers with less than 10 employees, must provide up to 24 hours of paid sick leave per year at the rate of 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Once you hit 24 hours, you are eligible for up to 16 hours of unpaid sick leave. The right to sick leave is not affected by whether an employer works full or part-time. If you are a child care worker, home health care worker or a food service worker you are entitled to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year regardless of the size of the company you work for. However, this law does not affect collective bargaining agreements.

More information can be found here.

Washington state law requires employers to provide paid sick leave. Employees accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. This applies to all employees, including temporary and part-time employees. There is no cap on how many hours can be accrued per year. Unused paid sick leaves balances of 40 hours or less must carry over from one year to the next. Employees may use paid sick leave for them or a family member for a physical or mental health condition. A family member is a spouse or domestic partner, child, grandparent, grandchild, parent or sibling.

More information can be found here.

Effective January 1, 2018, Washington employers must provide all employees with paid sick leave. Seattle amended its law to expand the types of absences where employees can use paid sick leave. These went into effect March 18, 2020. Now employees can use paid sick leave when any family member’s place of care of school is closed. The amendment also now allows employees to take paid leave if they work for an employer with more than 250 full-time employees and if the place of business closes for any health or safety reason. Under the law employees must accrue paid sick leave at a minimum rate of 1 hour for every 40 hours worked. Paid sick leave must be paid to employees at their normal hourly compensation. Leave may be used no sooner than the employees 90^th calendar day after the start of their employment. When sick time is not used, no more than 40 hours may be carried over into the following year.

More information can be found here.

Effective January 1, 2018, under Tacoma’s Paid Sick Leave, workers in Tacoma, Washington, are eligible for sick leave 90 days after hire. Under the law employees must accrue paid sick leave at a minimum rate of 1 hour for every 40 hours worked. When sick time is not used, no more than 40 hours may be carried over into the following year. For absences exceeding three days, employers may require documentation to show that the leave was for an authorized purpose. Employees may use the paid sick leave for all the state law reasons but also for bereavement.

 

Under New York Law, New York employers with five or more employers or have a net income of more than $1 million must provide employees paid sick leave. Employers that have fewer than five employees and have a net income of $1 million or less must provide their employees with unpaid sick leave. Employees and may accrue one hour for every 30 hours. There is no deadline for the law. Employers must also provide domestic workers with 40 hours of paid safe and sick leave; allow employees to use safe and sick leave as it is accrued; reimburse employees who must pay for required documentation after three consecutive workdays of leave; list on employees’ paystubs (or any document issued each pay period) the amounts of accrued and used leave and the total balance of accrued leave. More information can be found here.

New York first responders and other state employees who developed health conditions after working at the World Trade Center site following 9/11 terror attacks are entitled to unlimited sick leave at 100 percent of their regular salary.

Effective May 5, 2018, under New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law), New York City employers with 5 or more employers must provide employees paid sick leave. New York City’s sick leave law was recently expanded to include siblings, grandchildren, grandparents, children and parents of the employee. 

The law does not apply to employees who work 80 hours or less per calendar year in New York City or government employees. New York City’s sick leave law was recently expanded to allow use of sick leave to take care of siblings, grandchildren, grandparents, children, any other individual related by blood, and parents of the employee. Employees must accrue one hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers can cap sick leave at 40 hours per year. Employers must allow employees to carry over up to 40 hours of unused safe and sick to the next calendar year. Paid sick leave must be paid to employees at their normal hourly compensation. Employees must be able to use their leave by the 120th calendar day after the start of their employment.

Effective September 11, 2017, New York first responders and other state employees who developed health conditions after working at the World Trade Center site following 9/11 terror attacks are entitled to unlimited sick leave at 100 percent of their regular salary.

Effective September 30, 2020, employers mustprovide domestic workers with 40 hours of paid safe and sick leave; allow employees to use safe and sick leave as it is accrued; reimburse employees who must pay for required documentation after three consecutive workdays of leave; list on employees’ paystubs (or any document issued each pay period) the amounts of accrued and used leave and the total balance of accrued leave.

Effective January 1, 2021 employers with 100 or more employees must provide up to 56 hours of paid leave and employers with four or fewer employees and a net income of $1 million or more must provide paid leave.

Effective April 10, 2019, employees in Westchester County are entitled to paid sick leave. Employees of an employer with 5 or more employees will earn 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Paid sick time is capped at 40 hours per year. Earned sick time can carry over to the following year, but the maximum amount of sick leave for any given year remains at 40 hours. Sick time can be used for an employee’s mental or physical health or to care for a family member.

More information can be found here.

Maryland Healthy Working Families Act requires employers with 15 or more employees must provide up to 40 hours of earned, paid sick and safe leave. Employers may offer leave accrual of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked or may offer the entire 40 hours of leave at the beginning of the year. Employers with 14 or fewer employees must offer unpaid sick and safe leave. Employees may carry over up to 40 hours of leave per year under the law. Employers may cap the use of paid leave at 64 hours per year and may also cap the accrual of leave at 64 hours total and 40 hours per year. Leave must be offered to care for the physical or mental health of the employee or a family member, to take maternity or paternity leave, or to obtain relief in response to a domestic or sexual assault of the employee or a family member.

“Employer” means any person, individual, proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation, limited liability company, trust, association, or other entity operating and doing business in the County that employs 1 or more persons in the County in addition to the owners.

“Employee” does not include:

• Employees who regularly work less than 8 hours per week.
• An individual who: a) Does not have a regular work schedule with the employer; b) Contacts the employer for work assignments and is scheduled to work the assignments within 48 hours after contacting the employer; c) Has no obligation to work for the employer if the individual does not contact the employer for work assignments, and d) Is not employed by a temporary placement agency.
• Independent contractors. See Montgomery County Paid Sick Leave Guidance for more information.

There is no expiration date on this law.

There are additional exceptions for parties to collective bargaining agreements. The result is that Montgomery County's law, with more requirements for employers, remains in force. The text of the law can be found at the Maryland General Assembly website.

Leave for Longer Absences from Work. Maryland's Time to Care Act a statewide Family and Medical Leave Program (Program) that will go into effect on October 1, 2023. It provides temporary paid benefits to a covered  employee who is taking leave from employment. Benefits will include taking leave for the following reasons:

• To care for a child during the first year after the child’s birth or after the placement of the child through foster car, kinship, or adoption;
• To care for a family member with a serious health condition;
• The covered individual has a serious health condition;
• To care for a service member who is the covered individual’s next of kin; or
• The covered individual has a qualifying exigency arising out of deployment of a service member who is a family member of the covered individual.

Covered Employee. Every employee working in Maryland, self-employed individuals, and employers with 15 more employees participating in the Program must begin contributing to the Program fund. A covered employee is one who has worked at least 680 hours over a 12-month period immediately preceding the date on which leave is to begin.

The secretary of labor will set the respective rates of contribution for employers with 15 or more employees by June 1, 2023.  Funding requirements will be subject to change every two years based on recommendations by the secretary of labor, in consultation with state agencies and relevant stakeholders. Employers that have 14 employees or fewer, however, are not required to contribute to the Fund. Employees of those smaller employers, however, will still be required to pay their required contributions.

This Program is different from the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act in that it applies to longer absences from work. See this FAQ for more informatiohn. Workplace Fairness wil update this page as more information is available.

 

Montgomery County’s Earned Sick and Safe Law went into effect on October 1, 2016. It requires most employers in the County to provide earned sick and safe leave to employees for work performed in the County. The intent of the law is to provide employees with paid leave or time off to take care of things such as sickness, family illnesses or domestic violence. The legislation requires employers to provide earned sick and safe leave at a rate of at least one hour for every 30 hours an employee works in the County up to 56 hours in a calendar year. To help small businesses, an employer with fewer than five employees would have to provide an employee with up to 32 hours of paid sick and safe leave per year plus an additional 24 hours of unpaid sick and safe leave. Many County employers already meet or exceed the benefits required by the new law and are unaffected by the new law.

 

The Nevada passed a paid leave law requires employers in Nevada with 40 or more employees must provide employees with 1 hour of paid leave for every 52 hours worked. Employers can cap employees use of paid leave at 40 hours per year. Employees can begin using their leave beginning on the 90^th day of their employment. Employees are not required to give their employers a reason for taking the leave, but employers can require employees to provide notice of their leave “as soon as practicable.” There is no expiration date for the law.

Illinois House Bill 3582 entitles employees who are victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, or gender violence (or whose family members or household members are victims of such violence) to take unpaid leave from work to address issues related to the violence.

The City of Chicago Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance covers any employee who works in Chicago and who works more than 80 hours during a 120-day period. Employees accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. This is capped at 40 hours per year. Sick leave may be used by employees to care for themselves or their family members when they are sick or to receive medical care. If any employer is not covered by FMLA, and employee can carry over half of their unused paid sick leave to the next year. This is capped at 20 hours. If an employer is covered by FMLA, employees are entitled to carry over up to 40 hours into the next year. More information can be found here. 

Effective July 1, 2017, the Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance establishes a right to paid sick leave for employees of employers in Cook County. The ordinance covers any employees who work for compensation, for a minimum of two hours in any two-week period, and/or physically present within Cook County. Employees accrue one hour of sick leave for every 40 hours worked. Employees may, at a minimum, carry over 20 hours of earned sick leave from one year to the next. The ordinance does provide for some exceptions that include but are not limited to certain individuals under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement, independent contractors, and individuals under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. More information can be found here.

For information on how Cook County is interpreting its earned sick leave ordinance in light of the COVID-19 (or coronavirus) pandemic, click here.

 

Effective May 13, 2015 The Philadelphia Sick Leave Ordinance requires that employees who work at least 40 hours a year within the City of Philadelphia be eligible to earn paid/unpaid sick leave. Employees are eligible to earn 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours they work. Employers with 10 or more employees are required to provide paid sick leave. Employers with 9 or fewer employees are required to provide unpaid sick leave. The sick time is capped at 40 hours per calendar year. Earned sick time can be used for the employee’s own health needs, to care for a family member or for leave due to domestic abuse or sexual assault. There is no expiration date on the law. More information can be found here.

The City of Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Act went into effect March 15, 2020. Employees accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked. For employers with 15 or more employees, paid sick leave is capped at 40 hours per year. For employers with fewer than 15 employees, paid sick leave is capped at 24 hours per year. Unused sick time can be carried over to the following year. There is no expiration date on the law. More information can be  ound here.

Allegheny County has a paid sick leave law requiring employers with 26 or more employees to provide paid sick leave. Under the ordinance, employers with 26 or more employees have an obligation to notify employees that they are entitled to paid sick time. Section 2406 A of the Ordinance provides that employers give written notice that employees are entitled to paid sick time, the amount of sick time, that retaliation against employees who request or use paid sick time is prohibited, and that each employee has the right to file a complaint with the Agency if paid sick time is denied by the employer or the employee is retaliated against for requesting or taking paid sick time.

The City of Austin Sick Time Ordinance requires employers to provide sick leave to employees who work at least 80 hours of work for pay within the City of Austin in a calendar year. Paid sick time is accrued at 1 hour per 30 hours worked. An employee can use sick time for their physical or mental health or to care for a family member’s physical or mental health. The yearly cap for earned sick time is 64 hours per employee per year for an employer with more than 15 employees and 48 hours per employee for an employer with 15 or less employees. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Austin's paid sick leave ordinance is unconstitutional because it conflicts with the Texas Minimum Wage Act.

Litigation is currently ongoing for the San Antonio Sick and Safe Leave law.

New Hampshire has a voluntary paid leave program called the Granite State Paid Leave Plan. Eligible New Hampshire employers (public employers and private employers with more than fifty employees) and eligible employees are entitled to opt in to the New Hampshire Paid Family Medical Leave (NH PFM)  insurance plan. (State employees are entitled to paid family leave only.) NH PFML provides covered employees with up to 60 percent of their average weekly wages, up to the Social Security wage maximum, for up to six weeks per year, plus a seven-calendar day unpaid elimination period per year, for absences from work for covered events. Employees who work for businesses that participate in the voluntary program can utilize the leave for:

• The birth of a child or caring for a newborn child for the first year;
• For newly adopted or fostered children within the first year;
• Care for an employee’s spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition;
• Care for a spouse, child, or parent who is in the military;
• A personal serious health condition that is independent of employment, if the employer does not offer short-term disability insurance.

Employees may take continuous or intermittent leave with a minimum of four-hour increments. Employers opting in to the program are required to participate in payroll deductions and continue employee health insurance coverage during leave. Employers with fifty or more workers that provide NH PFML to their employees are required to return employees taking leave to the position held prior to such leave, or to an equivalent position pursuant to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or The NH PFM. 

Employers that purchase NH PFML insurance from New Hampshire’s PFML insurance partner, either directly or through an insurance agent, broker, or consultant, are eligible for a business enterprise tax (BET) credit of up to 50 percent of their premium payments. Granite State employers have several options to consider, including whether to fully fund the premium costs for employees, split the premium costs with their employees, or pass the full premium costs on to employees. While the New Hampshire Insurance Department’s regulations allow other insurance companies to seek approval to provide paid family and medical leave benefit plans, employers that purchase other paid family and medical leave insurance plans or employer equivalent coverage will not qualify for the BET credit.

The Healthy Workplaces Act requires employers with one or more employees to provide up to 64 hours of earned sick leave every year. Employees must be allowed to accrue one earned sick leave hour for every 30 hours worked. "Employ" means suffer or permit to work; the burden of proof shall be upon the person for whom the work is performed to show independent contractor status by clear and convincing evidence.” “Employee" means an individual employed by an employer, including an individual employed on a part-time, seasonal or temporary basis, or an individual performing domestic service in a private home for remuneration. There is no deadline for the act.

 

Delaware's Healthy Delaware Families Act provides up to 12 weeks of leave and benefits to covered employees for certain parental, family caregiving, and medical reasons. “Covered individual” means an individual who meets all of the following:

• Has been employed for at least 12 months by the employer with respect to whom leave is requested.
• Has been employed for at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12-month

“Employee” means an individual employed by an employer. “Employer” means all those who employ employees working anywhere in this State. Employers with 10 to 24 employees during the previous 12 months shall be subject to only the parental leave provisions. Employers with 25 or more employees during the previous 12 months shall be subject to all parental, family caregiving, and medical leave provisions. See the law for more information.

In California, a state law mandating paid sick leave fully went into effect on July 1, 2015. This law provides employees who work in California for 30 or more days within a year from the beginning of employment with paid sick leave. Employees, including part-time and temporary employees, earn at least one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked. An employer may limit the amount of paid sick leave an employee can use in one year to 24 hours or three days. Accrued paid sick leave may be carried over to the next year, but it may be capped at 48 hours or six days. However, this law does not apply to employees covered by qualifying collective bargaining agreements, In-Home Supportive Services providers, and certain employees of air carriers.

"Employer” means any person who directly employs five or more persons to perform services for a wage or salary and state, and any political or civil subdivision of the state and cities. The act does not include a definition for “employee.”There is no expiration date for the law. See the California Family Rights Act for more information.

As a result of the California Family Rights Act, employees throughout California can use sick leave or take leave under to care for a “designated person.” A designated person is defined as any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is equivalent to a family relationship. An employee can designate this person at the time they request leave.  An employer can limit an employee to one person in a 12-month period as the employee’s designated person. 

Employers with employees working in locales with local paid sick leave ordinances will need to evaluate the need for revisions to policies and procedures. Some local paid sick ordinances already allow the use of sick leave to care for a designated person and provide a process for making such designations. See the law for more informaiton. See the law for more information.