Sick leave is time off from work when employees are ill, injured, or need to attend medical appointments. Unlike vacation or personal days, sick leave addresses health needs and in many jurisdictions, it's not just a nice benefit but a legal requirement.

No Federal Sick Leave Requirement (Usually)

Federal law doesn't require private employers to provide paid or unpaid sick leave for most situations. The exception is FMLA, which covers serious health conditions but only provides unpaid leave and only for eligible employees.

That means your restaurant with 20 employees has no federal obligation to give your servers paid sick days. However, before you celebrate, check your state and city laws. Many have filled this gap.

State and Local Paid Sick Leave Laws (2025)

• Arizona: Employees accrue paid sick leave at a rate of 1 hour per 30 hours worked.  Employers with 15 or more employees must allow up to 40 hours of paid sick leave use per year (employers with fewer than 15 employees may cap use at 24 hours) .  Sick leave begins accruing on the first day, but use may be limited until after 90 days.  (This is set by Arizona’s Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act.)
  
  
• California:  State law (Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act) requires employers to provide at least 1 hour of sick leave per 30 hours worked.  As of Jan. 1, 2024 the annual minimum was raised to 40 hours (5 days) of sick leave per year  (up from 24 hours prior to 2024).  Employers may front-load this leave or have accrual; uncapped carryover (up to 80 hours) is allowed if not front-loaded.  (Local ordinances in many CA cities may require even more.)
  
  
• Colorado:  Colorado’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act requires 1 hour per 30 hours worked, capped at 48 hours per year .  All employers (any size) must comply.  Employers may front-load 48 hours or use accrual; unused sick leave (up to 48 hours) must carry over year-to-year.
  
  
• Connecticut: Effective January 1, 2023 (phase-in) and fully by 2027, employers must provide 1 hour per 30 hours worked, with a 40-hour cap on accrual/use per year .  Currently (2025) CT employers of ≥35 employees must allow up to 40 hours per year .  (The use/carryover limit is 40 hours; by 2027 all employers are covered.)
  
  
• Maryland: All employers with 15 or more employees must allow accrual of 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year .  Employers with fewer than 15 employees must allow sick leave but it may be unpaid.  (Employees begin using leave after 106 days of employment; up to 64 hours may be used if unused time is carried over .)
  
  
• Massachusetts: All covered workers (of 11+ employee firms) accrue 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 40 hours (5 days) per year .  Workers can begin using leave after 90 days on the job.  Unused time (up to 40 hours) carries over annually.  (Smaller MA employers must provide unpaid leave under similar rules.)
  
  
• Michigan:  A new Michigan Earned Sick Time Act took effect Feb. 21, 2025.  Standard (larger) employers must provide 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 72 hours per year (paid) .  Small employers (fewer than 50 employees under certain definitions) accrue 1 hour per 35 worked, up to 40 hours per year (paid), plus the ability to use an additional 32 hours of unpaid leave if needed .  (Employees begin using leave after 90 days on the job.)
  
  
• Nevada: Private employers with ≥50 employees (in business >2 years) must provide paid leave usable for any reason.  Employees accrue at least 0.01923 hours per hour worked (≈1 hour per 52 hours) , yielding 40 hours/year of paid sick leave.  Employers may limit use to 40 hours and allow carryover of 40 hours .  (Up to half the leave may be used to care for family.)
  
  
• New Jersey: All employers in NJ must allow accrual of 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 40 hours per year .  This is paid sick leave.  (Annual usage may be limited to 40 hours, and unused leave up to 40 hours must carry over.)
  
  
• New Mexico: All private NM employers must allow accrual at 1 hour per 30 worked .  There is no cap on accrual, but employees may use up to 64 hours per 12-month period  (64 is the annual use limit, not an accrual cap).  (Employers may frontload 64 hours instead of accrual; unused leave carries over to the next year up to 64 hours.)
  
  
• New York (State): Employers with ≥100 employees must provide up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year; those with 5–99 employees must provide up to 40 hours per year.  Covered employees accrue 1 hour per 30 worked .  (Employers with 0–4 employees: >$1M income must provide 40 unpaid hours, or paid if >$1M.)  Unused leave up to the annual cap carries over.
  
  
• Oregon: Employers with ≥10 employees (≥6 in Portland) must provide 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 40 hours per year .  (A 2017 amendment clarifies that employers may cap accrual at 40 hours/year and total accrual at 80 hours .)  Unused sick time (up to 40 hours) carries over.  (Smaller OR employers must allow leave accrual but it may be unpaid.)
  
  
• Rhode Island: Covered employers (18 or more employees) must allow 1 hour per 35 worked, up to 40 hours per year .  (This rate phased in from 24 hours in 2018, 32 in 2019, to 40 thereafter.)  Unused leave (up to 40 hours) carries over; annual use is capped at 40 hours.
  
  
• Vermont: Employers of all sizes must provide 1 hour per 52 worked (≈1 hr per 13 working days), up to 40 hours per year .  Unused leave (up to 40 hours) carries over.  (Leave accrual starts immediately; use may be restricted for up to 1 year by employer policy.)
  
  
• Washington (State): State law (Initiative 1433) requires 1 hour per 40 hours worked (1.0 hr/40 hr) of paid sick leave .  All employers (even 1 employee) must provide it; unused sick leave (up to 40 hours) carries over, and use may be capped at 40 hours/year (unless employer chooses more).  (Employees use accrual after 90 days of employment .)
  
  

Major Cities with Paid Sick Leave Laws

Major U.S. cities often have their own sick-leave ordinances, even if the surrounding state has no law. Examples include:

• Chicago, IL: The Chicago ordinance (effective July 2024) provides 1 hour of paid sick leave per 35 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year .  (This is in addition to a parallel “paid leave” benefit; the cap is 40 hours unless the employer sets a higher limit .)
  
  
• Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia’s “Healthy Families and Workplaces” law (2015) grants 1 hour per 40 worked, up to 40 hours/year.  Employers with ≥10 employees must provide paid sick leave up to 40 hours , while smaller employers must provide unpaid sick leave.  (Employees earn 1 hr/40 hrs up to 40 hrs/year, and may use leave after 90 days .)
  
  
• Seattle, WA: Seattle’s Paid Sick and Safe Time ordinance requires sick accrual by employer size: for businesses with 1–49 full-time equivalents (FTE), 1 hour per 40 worked (up to 40 hrs use); for 50–249 FTEs, 1/40 (up to 56 hrs use); and for 250+ FTEs, 1 hour per 30 worked (up to 72 hrs use) .  Unused leave carries over (up to 40/56/72 hours depending on employer size).
  
  
• San Francisco, CA: SF’s paid sick law provides 1 hour per 30 hours worked.  Employees in firms of 10 or more earn up to 72 hours of sick leave per year, while those in firms under 10 earn up to 40 hours per year .  (Exempt employees are assumed 40 hrs/week for accrual; 90-day waiting period for use .)
  
  
• Los Angeles, CA: LA’s ordinance requires 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 48 hours/year of paid sick leave .  Employers can cap carryover at 72 hours and use per year at 48 hours .  (Leave accrues from the first day; use may begin after 90 days.)
  
  
• San Diego, CA: The city ordinance mandates 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 40 hours/year (paid if the employer is covered) .  Employers may front-load 40 hours annually and may cap accrual at 80 hours .  (Unused time carries over or is paid out at year’s end if front-loaded.)
  
  
• Washington, D.C.: The DC accrual rates vary by employer size: employers ≥100 workers must provide 1 hour per 37 worked (capped at 56 hours/year, i.e. 7 days); employers 25–99 provide 1/43 (up to 40 hours/year, 5 days); and employers ≤24 provide 1/87 (up to 24 hours/year, 3 days) .  (This effectively means large employers offer up to 56 hours, midsize 40, small 24.)

Each of the above laws is enforced by the respective city or state agency (labor department or civil rights commission) and is subject to updates or amendments by the city council or state legislature.  All citations above are to official summaries or statutes reflecting the law as of 2025, but use the links to check your most recent obligations.

Your coffee shop with locations in Philadelphia and Harrisburg must provide paid sick leave in Philadelphia but not in Harrisburg (unless you choose to). Multi-location businesses need to track requirements by jurisdiction.

Common Sick Leave Law Features

While details vary, most mandated sick leave laws share common elements:

Accrual-Based

Employees earn sick time as they work. The most common rate is 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. A full-time employee (40 hours per week) earns about 1.3 hours of sick time weekly, totaling roughly 69 hours (8.6 days) annually.

Caps on Accrual and Use

Most laws cap both how much you can accrue and how much you can use annually:

• Accrual cap: 48 to 80 hours (employees stop earning once they hit this balance)
• Annual use cap: 24 to 48 hours (employees can use up to this much per year even if they've accrued more)

Your retail employee in California might accrue 60 hours over 18 months, but she can only use 24 hours in any single year. The remaining 36 hours carry over for future use.

Broad Permitted Uses

Sick leave laws typically allow use for:

Employee's own illness or injury: Your warehouse worker has the flu and can't work.

Preventive care: Annual checkups, dental cleanings, flu shots.

Family member care: When your line cook's kid has strep throat and needs to stay home from school, he can use sick leave to care for her.

Domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking: Many laws allow sick leave for victims to seek medical attention, counseling, or legal assistance.

Public health emergencies: When the health department says "stay home if you're sick," employees need sick leave to comply.

No Verification for Short Absences

Most laws prohibit requiring a doctor's note for absences of three days or fewer. Requiring documentation for a one-day cold is both burdensome and costly for employees.

Creating a Sick Leave Policy

Even if not legally required, offering sick leave makes business sense. Sick employees spread illness and perform poorly. Sending them home protects everyone.

Define Eligibility

All employees: Most laws cover full-time, part-time, and temporary workers.

Waiting period: Some laws allow a 90-day waiting period before employees can use accrued sick leave (though they accrue from day one).

Your salon might state: "All employees begin accruing sick leave on their first day of employment. Employees may use accrued sick leave after 90 days of employment."

Specify Accrual Rate

Match legal requirements: If your state mandates 1 hour per 30 hours worked, that's your minimum.

Be more generous: You can always exceed legal requirements. Offering 1 hour per 25 hours worked gives employees more sick time.

Set Caps

Accrual cap: Prevents unlimited accumulation. Common caps: 48 to 80 hours.

Annual use cap: Limits use per year. Common caps: 40 to 48 hours.

Your hotel policy might state: "Employees accrue 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum balance of 64 hours. Employees may use up to 40 hours of sick leave per year."

Explain Permitted Uses

Be clear about what sick leave covers:

"Sick leave may be used for:

• Your own illness, injury, or medical appointments
• Caring for a sick family member (spouse, child, parent, grandparent, sibling)
• Preventive medical care for you or a family member
• Reasons related to domestic violence or sexual assault affecting you or a family member"

Address Documentation

Most laws prohibit requiring doctor's notes for short absences:

"The company does not require medical documentation for sick leave absences of three days or fewer. For absences of four or more consecutive days, employees may be asked to provide reasonable documentation of the need for leave."

Clarify Carryover

Unlimited carryover: Unused sick leave carries forward indefinitely (up to accrual cap).

Limited carryover: A set amount carries over; excess is forfeited.

Use-it-or-lose-it: All unused sick leave is forfeited annually (check if legal in your state).

California prohibits use-it-or-lose-it for accrued sick leave. Your sick leave policy there must allow carryover.

Sick Leave vs. PTO

Some employers use PTO banks instead of separate sick leave. One bank covers vacation, sick days, and personal time. Is this legal where sick leave is mandated?

Generally yes, if: Your PTO policy provides at least as much time as required sick leave, accrues at the same rate or faster, and can be used for the same purposes.

Watch out for: PTO policies that restrict when time can be used (blackout dates, advance notice requirements) might not satisfy sick leave laws, which allow immediate use for illness.

Your restaurant offers 80 hours of PTO annually that employees can use for any reason, accruing at 1 hour per 25 hours worked. This likely satisfies California's sick leave law (which requires only 24 hours annually) as long as employees can use PTO immediately when sick.

Managing Sick Leave Operationally

Expect the Unexpected

Sick leave is unpredictable. Your coffee shop server wakes up with a migraine and can't work her opening shift. You need coverage fast.

Solutions:

• Maintain a list of employees willing to pick up shifts on short notice
• Cross-train employees so anyone can fill in
• Build slight overstaffing into your schedule
• Use Breakroom to quickly message all available employees when you need coverage

Don't Punish Sick Leave Use

It's illegal in most jurisdictions to:

• Count sick leave against perfect attendance bonuses
• Discipline employees for using sick leave
• Require employees to find their own coverage as a condition of using sick leave

Your retail store can't have a "three absences and you're fired" policy if those absences are protected sick leave.

Track Accrual Accurately

Miscalculating accrual creates compliance problems. You need systems that:

• Calculate accrual each pay period based on hours worked
• Track balances in real-time
• Alert employees when approaching caps
• Generate required notices (many jurisdictions require showing sick leave balances on pay stubs)

Use software that automatically calculates sick leave accrual based on hours worked and displays current balances to employees for total transparency.

Communicate Clearly

Employees should know:

• How they accrue sick leave
• How much they currently have
• What it can be used for
• How to request it
• Whether verification is required

Your employee handbook should explain sick leave clearly. Posting sick leave rights (required in many jurisdictions) reminds employees of their rights.

Common Sick Leave Mistakes

Requiring doctor's notes for every absence: Illegal in many places and burdensome even where allowed.

No carryover: Use-it-or-lose-it policies violate laws in several states.

Denying sick leave for family care: Most laws explicitly allow using sick leave to care for sick family members.

Retaliating: Disciplining employees for using sick leave is illegal where sick leave is mandated.

Not tracking accrual: Employees in jurisdictions with sick leave laws are entitled to specific accruals. "We don't track it; just take a day when you need it" isn't compliance.

Sick Leave During COVID-19 and Beyond

The pandemic highlighted the importance of sick leave. Employees without paid sick time came to work sick because they couldn't afford to miss a shift, spreading illness.

The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) temporarily required paid sick leave for COVID-related absences, but that mandate expired in 2020. Some states and cities extended or created permanent sick leave requirements in response.

Moving forward, offering adequate sick leave isn't just about compliance. It's about public health and workplace safety. Your grocery store doesn't want cashiers with contagious illnesses touching customers' food.

Interaction with FMLA

Sick leave and FMLA can run concurrently:

Your warehouse employee breaks her leg and is out for 6 weeks. This qualifies as a serious health condition under FMLA. She uses 40 hours of accrued sick leave (paid), then the remaining 4 weeks are unpaid FMLA.

Employees can be required to use accrued sick leave during FMLA, though some state laws prohibit this. Check your jurisdiction.

The Business Case for Sick Leave

Even if not required by law, offering sick leave benefits your business:

Reduces illness spread: Sick employees infect customers and coworkers. One cook with the flu can spread it to your entire kitchen staff.

Improves productivity: Sick employees work slowly and make mistakes. Your server with a bad cold forgets orders and provides poor service.

Boosts morale: Employees appreciate not having to choose between income and health.

Aids recruitment: In competitive labor markets, benefits matter. "We offer paid sick leave" attracts better candidates.

The Bottom Line

Sick leave is increasingly required by law and universally beneficial. It protects public health, supports employees, and improves operations. Whether mandated or voluntary, implementing clear sick leave policies demonstrates you value employees' health and wellbeing.

Track accrual accurately, communicate clearly, and apply policies consistently. When your employees know they can stay home when sick without financial penalty or job risk, everyone benefits.

‍