Overview

Updated 05/27/2021

In the United States, dozens of jurisdictions—including states, cities, and counties—have paid sick time laws on the books. Typically, employers get to choose whether they want to offer types of paid time off, like sick leave to employees, but depending on your business location, you might not have a choice. Little by little, paid sick leave laws by state are on the rise.

When your employees have the flu, the last thing they want to do is get out of bed and work. Not to mention, you probably don’t want them to infect everyone at your business. Paid sick leave laws help circumvent these types of issues.

Sick leave is time off an employee can take if they or a family member are sick. With paid sick leave, the employee receives the same wages as if they worked.

 

List of Sick Leave Locations

States	California Cities	Other Counties & Cities
Arizona	Berkeley	Cook County & Chicago, IL
California	Emeryville	Montgomery County, MD
Connecticut	Los Angeles	Duluth, MN
District of Colombia	Oakland	Minneapolis, MN
Massachusetts	San Diego	Saint Paul, MN
Maryland	San Francisco	New York City, NY
Michigan	Santa Monica	Westchester County, NY
New Jersey		Philadelphia, PA
Oregon		Pittsburgh, PA
Rhode Island		Austin, TX* & San Antonio, TX*
Vermont		Dallas, TX
Washington		Seattle, WA
		Spokane, WA
		Tacoma, WA

New Sick Leaves Effective in 2020

 

Duluth, MN

Effective January 1, 2020, Duluth, Minnesota employers of five or more employees must provide paid sick and safe leave to employees. (Ordinance No. 10571.)

Beginning January 1, 2020, employers must allow employees to begin accruing earned sick and safe time at a rate of one hour of earned sick and safe time for every 50 hours worked. Employers must permit an employee to accrue up to 64 hours of earned sick and safe time per year and carry over up to 40 hours of earned but unused sick and safe time into the following year.

Pittsburgh, PA

After more than a four-year delay, the City of Pittsburgh’s Paid Sick Days Act (“the Ordinance”) will go into effect on March 15, 2020.

Under the Ordinance, employers with 15+ employees must provide paid sick leave, up to 40 hours per year, accrued at a rate of 1 hour of leave for every 35 hours worked.

 

Uncertainty Remains for Texas Paid Sick Leave Ordinances

Over the past two years, city councils in three of the four largest cities in Texas — Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas — each have passed ordinances requiring local employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave. 

 

Austin*

In November 2018, a state appeals court entered a temporary injunction blocking implementation of the Austin ordinance.

San Antonio*

In November, 2019, mere days before San Antonio’s Sick and Safe Leave ordinance was set to go into effect, the law was blocked by a county judge.

Dallas

In Dallas, the paid leave ordinance has been in effect since August 1, 2019. An employer shall grant an employee one hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 hours worked for the employer in the City of Dallas. 64 hours annual cap per employee per year for medium or large employers.

 

Avionté Knowledge Base – Sick Leave

Avionte provides a reference guide on where to locate, activate & review all standard sick leave accruals in the system – Sick Leave Overview

For more information, and before acting on any information contained within this article, Avionte recommends consulting with your legal counsel. This information should not be construed as, and does not constitute, legal advice.

 

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