States Mandating Paid Sick Leave

No federal law requires private-sector employers to provide paid leave, unless they are federal contractors subject to Executive Order 13706. However, 11 states — Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — and the District of Columbia have enacted paid sick leave mandates. Michigan’s law takes effect March 29, 2019.

Employers can download the accompanying article for a chart that tracks key provisions of different jurisdictions’ paid sick leave laws, including:

• Which employers must comply, and which employees can accrue and take paid sick leave?
• How much paid sick leave can employees accumulate, use and carry over?
• What reasons — in addition to an employee’s own illness — justify the use of paid sick leave?
• What absence notices or documentation can employers require from employees, and what information about the mandate must employers provide to employees?
• What job protections apply to employees who exercise their rights to paid sick leave?

Future updates will add details about newly enacted paid sick leave laws in other states. This chart focuses on paid sick leave laws; it does not cover other leave mandates, such as:

• Unpaid leave required by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act or similar state laws
• Paid sick leave required by local law or ordinance (other than Washington, DC)
• Paid state disability and/or family leave