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Comparing 2024 Paid Sick Leave Laws by State

October 02, 2024

Not all states require employers to provide paid sick leave, but mandates vary across the ones that do. Learn these legal nuances and requirements.

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Employee Management

Authored by Paylocity's Compliance & Government Relations Team

What is Paid Sick Leave?

Paid sick leave is a benefit that lets employees continue to receive their regular pay while taking time away from work for an illness or injury. Depending on an employer’s sick leave policy, paid sick time is often an additional benefit offered alongside vacation days or generalized paid time off (PTO).

No federal law currently requires employers to provide sick leave or maintain an illness leave policy. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), though, does require eligible employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid sick leave for certain medical situations affecting an employee or their immediate family member.

Instead, state and local governments administer paid sick leave laws and mandates. As of January 1, 2024, the District of Columbia (DC) and 19 states listed below have paid sick leave laws, though several municipalities across the U.S. have passed similar local ordinances.

Key Takeaways

As there is currently no federal mandate, states and municipalities administer paid sick leave laws.
Paid sick leave requirements and acceptable uses vary by governing body, complicating compliance for multi-state (and some single-state) employers.
Commonly accepted uses include obtaining a medical diagnosis, receiving preventative or routine medical care, and handling an existing health condition (e.g., mental or physical illness or injury).

Sick Leave Payout

As of 2024, no state or local jurisdiction requires employers to pay out unused paid sick leave when an employee separates from the organization. However, Nevada, Maine, and Illinois (along with Chicago and Cook County) have general paid leave mandates that may contain wage payment requirements applying to paid leave payouts.

Acceptable Paid Sick Time Uses

The eligible reasons for using a sick day vary by jurisdiction. Still, employees can generally use paid sick days for any of the following:

Handling an existing health condition, including mental or physical illness, injury, or medical condition, for themselves or an immediate family member
Obtaining a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment (including home care) for any of the above
Receiving preventative or routine medical care for themselves, including pregnancy, childbirth, prenatal visits, postpartum care, and dental visits
Abiding a public health official’s order or public health emergency that closed the employee’s place of business
Requiring time off to seek legal or law enforcement assistance for themselves, an immediate family member, or a family member’s dependent experiencing domestic violence, a family offense matter, harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse, stalking, or human trafficking

Employers should refer to any applicable state or local sick leave laws for a complete list of acceptable uses.

Legal Nuances and Best Practices

The varying legal requirements across state and local mandates can create a complex set of nuances for single-state and multi-state employers to consider when creating a sick time policy, such as:

Carryover requirements
Probationary periods
Use and accrual limits
Reinstatement standards for rehired employees

Moreover, depending on whether the absence is due to the employee’s own needs or someone else’s, sick time requests may involve other federal or state laws, such as Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) programs or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Due to this complexity, organizations should know and reconcile all federal, state, and local paid leave laws that may apply to a sick time off request from their employees. To ensure compliance, it’s best if employers also incorporate each law’s requirements into daily practices and policy development procedures.

Usually, sick leave policies equal to (i.e., meet every legal requirement) or more generous than what the law mandates will sufficiently cover unique legal nuances and overlapping standards. To implement effective solutions, employers should collaborate with a well-rounded team of stakeholders, including members from HR, legal, benefits, IT, payroll, and employee management.

Paid Sick Leave Laws by State 2024

State	Employer Eligibility	Employee Eligibility	Accrual Rate	Frontloading Allowed
Arizona	All	Any employed by an employer (with limited exceptions)	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
California	Any that has at least one employee who works more than 30 days in a year within the state	Any who works at least 30 days in the state	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Colorado	All	All	One hour per 30 hours worked	No
Connecticut*	All with one or more employees (tiered implementation until 1/1/2027)	All	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
D.C.	Any entity directly or indirectly employing or exercising control over the wages, hours, or working conditions of employment, including through use of temporary workers or a staffing agency	Any employed by an employer (with limited exceptions)	Varies based on employer size	Yes
Illinois	All	All full-time and part-time workers covered by the Paid Leave for All Workers Act (PLAWA)	One hour per 40 hours worked	Yes
Maine	Any who employs more than ten covered employees in the usual and regular course of business for more than 120 days in any calendar year	All within the state, including full-time, part-time, and per diem employees	One hour per 40 hours worked	Yes
Maryland	Any with 15 or more employees; those with fewer must provide unpaid sick and safe leave	Any who works at least 12 hours or more per week (with limited exceptions)	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Massachusetts	Any with 11 or more employees; those with fewer may provide unpaid sick time	Any full-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal, and other employees who primarily work within the state	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Michigan**	All with at least one employee	Any for whom employers are required to withhold federal income tax (with limited exceptions)	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Minnesota	All	Any who work at least 80 hours in a year for an employer within the state, including temporary and part-time employees	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Nevada	Any with 50 or more employees	Any for whom employers are required to withhold federal income tax	One hour per 52 hours worked	Yes
New Jersey	All	Any full-time, part-time, and temporary employees (with limited exceptions)	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
New Mexico	All private employers with at least one employee at any time	Any who work at least 80 hours within a 12-month period, including full-time, part-time, and temporary employees	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
New York	All with four or more employees within the US	All (with limited exceptions)	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Oregon	Any with ten or more employees within the state	Any full-time and part-time salaried, hourly, commissioned, and piece-rate employees, as well as home care employees who provide hourly or live-in care to the elderly or disabled and receive money from the state’s Department of Human Services	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Rhode Island	Any who has 18 or more employees	All full-time and certain part-time employees (with limited exceptions)	One hour per 35 hours worked	Yes
Vermont	All	All full-time and certain part-time employees (with limited exceptions)	One hour per 52 hours worked	Yes
Virginia	All who employ home health workers	All home health workers who work at least 20 hours a week or 90 hours a month	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Washington	All	All, including seasonal or domestic workers, independent contractors, workers for certain construction employers, and immediate family members of the business owner	One hour per 40 hours worked	Yes

* Some or all of the listed information will go into effect on January 1, 2025.
**Some or all of the listed information will go into effect on February 21, 2025.

Paid Sick Leave Laws by Municipality

Most, but not all, of the following local sick leave laws have a corresponding statewide law. For example, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County have sick leave laws, but the state of Pennsylvania doesn’t.

Employers should check with any applicable local agencies for a more exhaustive list of requirements.

State	Municipality	Employer Eligibility	Employee Eligibility	Accrual Rate	Frontloading Allowed
California	Berkeley	Any within city limits	Any who work two hours in a workweek in the city and are entitled to minimum wage	One hour per 30 hours worked	No
	Emeryville	Any within city limits	Any who work two hours in a workweek in the city and are entitled to minimum wage	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
	Los Angeles	Any within city limits	Any who work two hours in a workweek in the city and are entitled to minimum wage	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
	Oakland	Any within city limits	Any who work two hours in a workweek in the city and are entitled to minimum wage	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
	San Diego	Any within city limits	Any who work two hours in a workweek in the city and are entitled to minimum wage	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
	San Francisco	Any within city limits	Any who perform work in the city for at least 56 hours during a calendar year.	One hour per 30 hours worked within the city	Yes
	Santa Monica	Any within city limits	Any who work two hours in a workweek in the city and are entitled to minimum wage	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
	West Hollywood	Any with one or more employees in the geographic boundaries of West Hollywood	Any who, in a particular week, works at least two hours within the boundaries of the city for an employer and qualifies as an employee entitled to minimum wage under the California Labor Code and wage orders published by the California Industrial Welfare Commission	96/52 hours of paid time off each week	Yes
Illinois	Chicago	Any that employ at least one “covered employee” in the city limits	Any who performs at least 80 hours of work for an employer in a 120-day period while being physically located within the geographic boundaries of the city, including domestic workers or individuals who travel within the boundaries of the city on compensated time	One hour per 35 hours worked	Yes
Illinois	Cook County	All within the county limits (except Chicago) unless the local municipality has opted into the state’s Paid Leave for All Workers Act (PLAWA) or has an equivalent ordinance.	All who work for an employer within the county limits and/or an employer with a place of business within the county limits, including domestic workers	One hour per 40 hours worked	Yes
Maryland	Montgomery County	Any that employs one or more people within county limits (and the owner), including the county government but not federal, state, or any other local governments	Any who works nine hours or more each week	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
Minnesota	Bloomington	Any individual, corporation, partnership, association, nonprofit organization, or group of people in the city limits	Any individual who performs 80 hours of work for an employer in a calendar year while being physically located in the city limits, regardless of the employer’s location	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
	St. Paul	All with at least one employee within city limits	All full-time, part-time, and temporary employees who work 80 hours in a calendar year	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
	Duluth	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements
New Mexico	San Bernalillo County	All within county limits	Any who performs at least 56 hours of work within the county limits	One hour per 32 hours worked	Yes
New York	New York City	All with five or more employees within city limits	All full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees working within city limits (including boroughs)	One hour per 30 hours worked	Yes
New York	West Chester County	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	All with ten or more employees within city limits	Full-time and part-time employees who work 40 hours in a year within city limits	One hour per 40 hours worked	Yes
	Pittsburgh	All within the geographic boundaries of the city	Full-time and part-time employees who work within city limits	One hour per 35 hours worked	Yes
	Allegheny County	All with 26+ employees within county limits	Any located within county limits	One hour per 35 hours worked	Yes
Washington	Seattle	Any within city limits	Almost all within the city limits	One hour per 40 hours worked	Yes
Washington	Tacoma	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements	Same as state requirements