Roundup: State accrued paid leave mandates 

As of October 2023, 15 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington — and Washington, DC, have comprehensive laws that mandate paid sick leave. Illinois, Maine and Nevada have laws requiring accrued paid time off that can be used for any reason. More than ever, the number of these laws creates a compliance imperative for employers, especially those with workplaces in multiple states.

Download the 56-page print-friendly PDF for a chart detailing key provisions of these laws in each jurisdiction.

All of these laws have certain common features, including the following:

• Which employers must comply, and which employees can accrue and take paid leave
• How much paid leave employees may accumulate, use and carry over from one year to the next
• Whether a new hire waiting period is permissible before using accrued paid leave, and whether leave may be accrued and/or taken in increments other than one hour
• Whether employers may front-load or credit total annual paid leave at the start of each year and avoid the need to track hourly accruals or provide year-end carryovers
• What reasons — in addition to an employee’s own illness — justify the use of accrued paid leave
• What notice or documentation employers may require employees to provide, and what information about the paid leave entitlement employers must provide to employees
• What protections — in addition to job protections — apply to employees who exercise their rights to accrued paid leave

Whether employers have to pay out unused accrued leave when employees separate from service, and what rules apply when an individual is rehired

The accrued paid leave laws summarized in the Section 2 tables generally have common features — not featured in the tables — including the following:

• Paid leave requirements are based on the employee’s work location and accruals start on the date of hire.
• Employers whose existing paid leave programs (e.g., time off, sick leave or personal leave) meet or exceed the maximum accrual and allow the same leave uses without more restrictions or limitations don’t have to provide additional paid leave.
• The term “health” includes mental health, preventive care and chronic conditions in addition to physical illness.
• Employees exempt from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime standards are considered to work 40 hours per week.
• Properly classified independent contractors are not eligible for accrued paid leave.
• Employers may require reasonable notice if the leave is foreseeable.
• If leave is unforeseeable, employees should provide notice as soon as practicable.
• Worker protections and antiretaliation provisions apply.
• Leave mandates don’t apply to federal government employers, but often apply to state and/or local government employers.
• Workers covered under the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA) are excluded because of the RUIA’s preemption of state laws.
• Requirements typically don’t apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in effect at the time of a law’s passage. CBAs negotiated after a law’s enactment typically would not be subject to these laws if the CBA expressly waives the law’s requirements and also provides for equivalent or more generous paid sick leave.