Do You Have to Provide Paid Sick Leave?

When you have to provide paid sick leave (and where)

There's no federal paid sick leave law for ordinary private employers. But roughly 20 states and over a dozen major cities require paid sick leave or paid leave that can be used when an employee is sick. The rule usually follows the employee's work location, not your headquarters.

Most laws use the same basic formula: employees earn 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 or 40 hours worked. The details differ by state and city: annual caps, balance caps, carryover, waiting periods, documentation rules, and whether a local ordinance adds another layer.

How to set up a sick-leave policy that holds up

• List every employee's actual work location (state and city).
• Check sick leave rules for each location.
• Consider a California-style baseline, then check local exceptions.
• Keep sick leave separate from vacation or PTO in states where vacation payout rules matter.
• If you're in New Mexico or Washington, do not use a sick-leave balance cap.
• Post the required state and city notices in your workplace.

How simple policies create back-pay liability

• Applying your home state's policy to a remote employee in a paid-sick-leave state.
• Requiring documentation for a short sick-leave absence when the state limits that requirement.
• Capping sick-leave accrual in Washington or New Mexico, where accrual caps are not allowed.
• Combining sick leave with vacation in a way that makes the payout rule unclear at termination.

A safer starting point

A California-style policy is often a safer starting point than a bare-minimum policy: 1 hour earned per 30 hours worked, 40 hours available each year, an 80-hour balance cap, and careful limits on documentation for short absences. But it is still only a starting point. Check city rules, carryover exceptions, states that prohibit accrual caps, and vacation/PTO payout rules before you rely on one policy everywhere.