Paid Sick Leave Requirements

Posted by BAS - 28 February, 2013

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Many employers offer various categories of Paid Time Off (PTO) to eligible employees. Interestingly, there is no federal legal requirements for PTO, including paid sick leave. Companies with 50 or more employees subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) must provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain medical situations for either the eligible employee or a member of the eligible employee's immediate family. To be eligible for FMLA leave, the employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months.

Some localities are recognizing that paid sick leave is important to the workforce. Connecticut is the only state with a paid sick leave law. In Connecticut, employers with 50 or more employees must provide employees with a paid sick leave accrual of 1 hour for each 40 hours worked in a week, to a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.

San Francisco, California and Washington, D.C., have laws that allow workers to earn paid sick days to recover from a short-term illness, care for a sick family member or seek routine medical care. In 2011, Seattle joined these states by passing its own paid sick days law which requires businesses with 5 to 49 employees to provide a minimum of 5 paid sick days per year. Philadelphia passed a law that requires employers to provide paid sick days to workers on city-funded projects.

Many feel that guaranteeing paid sick leave will help boost the economy by ensuring a healthy and productive workforce. Even without state, local or federal mandates, employers may wish to considered paid sick leave policies as an employee benefit.

Topics: HR & Benefits Compliance


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