Fact Check: Do You Have to Provide Paid Sick Leave?

FMLA is unpaid leave for covered employers and employees. The COVID-era FFCRA paid leave mandate expired December 31, 2020. Federal contractors can have a separate paid sick leave requirement under EO 13706, but that is not an ordinary private-employer rule.

New Mexico caps annual use but not accrual. Washington requires paid sick leave accrual and carryover and does not allow employers to cap accrual the same way California does.

The companion article lists 20 broad statewide paid sick leave or paid-leave laws, treats Virginia as a narrower home-health-worker rule, and separately covers major city ordinances such as New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and D.C.

California covers employees who work in California for the required number of days; Washington applies its paid sick leave rule to work performed in Washington. The quick read correctly avoids saying the employer's home state controls.

California and many other jurisdictions use 1:30. Washington and Illinois use 1:40. The quick read says "most" because some jurisdictions use other ratios, such as Rhode Island at 1:35 and Nevada at roughly 1:52.

California's 1:30 accrual, 40-hour annual use, and 80-hour balance cap make it a useful benchmark. But San Francisco and other local ordinances can add rules, and New Mexico and Washington prohibit sick-leave accrual caps. The quick read now preserves that distinction.

California treats earned vacation as wages payable at separation, while sick leave alone generally is not paid out. The quick read now says the merged-bank issue can make the payout rule unclear instead of claiming every merged bank always converts in every state.