Are you ready for Expanded CT Paid Sick Leave?

In May,  Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill significantly expanding Connecticut’s current paid sick leave law. While Connecticut first enacted the paid sick leave law in 2011, it only applied to a limited employee population – Connecticut employers with 50 or more “service workers” in specific service and retail occupations. Those limitations cease effective January 1, 2025. The newly expanded Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Law (the “CT PSL”) lowers the Connecticut employee threshold for coverage in three phases, ultimately requiring covered employers with at least one Connecticut employee to provide up to 40 hours of CT PSL annually starting January 1, 2027. 

Who are covered employers?

You, probably. 

Covered employees include any person, firm, business, educational institution, nonprofit agency, corporation, limited liability company or other entity, including municipalities and the state. That covers just about everybody. The only exceptions are:

    • Self-employed individuals;
    • Employers participating in a multiemployer health plan, where multiple employers are required to contribute to the plan and the plan is maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements (CBA) between a construction-related union and employer; and
    • Employers with fewer employees than the number in the table below.

The expansion goes into effect in the following stages:

    • January 1, 2025: Employers with 25 or more full-time and part-time employees in CT
    • January 1, 2026: Employers with 11 or more full-time and part-time employees in CT
    • January 1, 2027: Employers with 1 or more full-time and part-time employees in CT

Number of employees is based on an employer’s payroll for the week containing January 1st, annually.

Which employees are eligible?

All of them, with few exceptions.

Only the following employees are excluded:

    • Seasonal employees (defined as an employee who works 120 days or less in any year. They would be eligible for paid sick leave on day 121)  
    • Individuals who are members of construction-related tradesperson employee organizations that are part of a multiemployer health plan maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements between a construction-related tradesperson employee organization(s) and employer.

How does an employee accrue paid sick leave?

Employees accrue paid sick leave at a rate of 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours actually worked by the employee up to 40 hours per year.

How may employees use paid sick leave?

The new law expands permitted uses for paid sick leave.  Currently, an eligible service worker may use available sick leave for purposes related to their own or their spouse’s or child’s illness, injury, health condition, or preventative medical care, or their own circumstances related to family violence or sexual assault. Under the new law, various permitted uses extend to an employee’s family member, defined broadly to include an employee’s spouse, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild, or parent of an employee or an individual related to the employee by blood or affinity whose close association the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships. Another notable permitted used is for a “mental health wellness day” which is defined as “a day during which an employee attends to their emotional and psychological well-being in lieu of attending a regularly scheduled shift.”

When may an employee use paid sick leave?

An employee may begin to use accrued hours 120 calendar days after their date of hire.

    • Employers are required to allow employees to use accrued paid sick leave in 1 hour increments regardless of the employer’s time-keeping system. Employees are not entitled to use the paid sick leave in lesser increments, unless allowed by the employer.
    • CARRY OVER:  Employees are entitled to accrue and use a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick leave per year and employees are not obligated to provide more.
      • Any hours accrued in the current year that are unused can be carried over into the next year.
      • Employers may also provide options for any accrued hours that the employee does not use during the year to be paid out at the end of the year.
      • In lieu of carry over, employees may front load the amount of paid sick leave that the employee would be entitled to at the beginning of the new year.

Can an employee request documentation to show their leave is permissible?

NO.

The law does not permit an employer to require the employee to provide any documentation showing that their leave is being taken for a permitted purpose under the law.  Nor may they be required to provide their employer advance notice of their need to use paid sick leave.

What if we allow employees to accrue more than 40 hours of paid leave per year?

Employers who allow for more than 40 hours of paid sick leave, paid time off (PTO), or any other type of leave that complies with the law may limit the use of additional hours over 40. Employers may apply their normal attendance and time off policy applied to those hours used over 40 and may require documentation before permitting the use of any hours over 40.

What if we have collective bargaining agreements (“CBAs”) containing terms that conflict with the law such as different amounts of leave, different accrual rates, different length of service requirements, minimum scheduled hour requirements, and documentation requirements?

The CT PSL does not contain any language excepting or “grandfathering” in inconsistent terms contained in collective bargaining agreements (unless the agreement was in effect in 2012 and has not expired or been renegotiated since then). Therefore, employers providing benefits under CBAs that are not consistent with the law will need to change their practices to comply with the law and may need to negotiate with unions to make those changes.

For more information and to best prepare for the upcoming changes, please contact one of our employment attorneys today!

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