The document discusses paid sick leave compliance and best practices for employers. It provides an overview of the expansion of paid sick leave laws from one state and seven jurisdictions in 2014 to three states and eighteen jurisdictions currently. It reviews the key details and requirements of paid sick leave laws in states like California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts as well as various cities. These include eligibility, accrual, usage limits, family definitions, and certification processes. The document also discusses challenges employers face in managing paid sick leave and provides resources for continued compliance.

1. Keeping Up with Paid Sick Leave
Compliance and Employer Best Practices
April 2015

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Agenda
 Introductions and Goals
 Where We Were Last Year
 What’s Changed Since Then
 The Gory Details
 How Employers Are Managing Paid Sick Leave

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Introduction and Goals
 Introduction
 Geoff Simpson, Director, Sales and Marketing, Presagia
 Michael Soltis, JD, LLM, Office Managing Shareholder and
Litigation Manager, Jackson Lewis PC
 Teri Weber, Partner and Senior Consultant, Spring
Consulting Group LLC

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Where We Were Last Year
 One State Paid Sick Leave (Connecticut)
 Seven Paid Sick Leave Jurisdictions (Washington, DC,
Jersey City, Newark, New York City, Portland, San
Francisco, and Seattle)
 One hotel specific ordinance in Los Angeles (October 2014)

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It Looked Like This…

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… And Now Paid Sick Leave Looks Like This

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… And Then There Are the State Leave Laws

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What’s Changed Since Then
 Paid Sick Leave has continued to expand
 From one state to three states (California, Connecticut,
Massachusetts)
 From seven jurisdictions to eighteen; many in CA and NJ
― Bloomfield, NJ
― East Orange, NJ
― Eugene, OR
― Irvington, NJ
― Jersey City, NJ
― Montclair, NJ
― Newark, NJ
― New York, NY
― Oakland, CA
― Patterson, NJ
― Portland, OR
Leave Map
― Passaic, NJ
― Philadelphia, PA
― San Francisco, CA
― Seattle, WA
― Tacoma, WA
― Trenton, NJ
― Washington, DC
― Los Angeles (hotel specific)
― Long Beach (hotel specific)
― San Diego, CA (on hold; vote in June 2016)

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Why This Is An Issue
 According to 2014 BLS Statistics:
 65% civilian workers have Paid Sick Leave
However, break it down and….
 52 percent of workers in small establishments have (<100)
 72 percent in medium and large establishments have (>100)
This means that over 40 million workers
have no paid sick leave!

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How The U.S. Compares
50 – Day Cancer
5 – Day Flu

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Why This Is An Issue
 1993 – Family and Medical Leave Act had gaps that
needed to be filled:
 Lacked pay for leave
 Required specific conditions be proven for sick leave
 2004 – Healthy Families Act – Rep. Rosa DeLauro (‘05,
‘07, ’09, ‘11, ’13)
 2004 – The Balancing Act – Rep. Lynn Woolsey (‘05,
‘07, ’09, ’11)
 In his 2015 State of the Union, Obama stated: “Send
me a bill that gives every worker in America the
opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave.”

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The Gory Details
State Level
 Three states have paid sick time laws (CA, CT and MA)
 CA: Passed by the legislature on August 29, 2014. The
Governor signed it into law on September 9, 2014 and the law
will take effect in July 2015
 CT: Signed by the Governor July 1, 2011. The law was
effective January 1, 2012
 MA: Statewide ballot was approved on November 4, 2014.
The law will take effect July 1, 2015
Paid Sick Leave is separate and distinct from Paid Family Leave available in
California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. These leaves may overlap or have
similar parameters.

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The Gory Details
State Level - Entitlement
 California offers up to 24 hours a year (1 hour for every
30 hours worked) to workers employed in CA for 30 or
more days within a year
 In-home supportive care and flight deck/cabin crews are exempt
 Employer under a CBA may be exempt
 Connecticut offers up to 40 hours a year (1 hour for
every 40 hours worked) to hourly workers working for a
business with 50 or more employees
 Manufacturers and one nationally chartered non-profit as well as
temporary and day laborers
 Massachusetts offers up to 40 hours a year (1 hour for
every 30 hours worked) to workers employed in MA
 Businesses with fewer than 11 workers receive only unpaid
sick time

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The Gory Details
State Level - Eligibility
 Accrual begins at commencement of employment
 In CA, time cannot be used until 90th day of employment
 In CT, time cannot be used until the 680th hour of employment
 In MA, time cannot be used until the 90th calendar day of
employment
 All three states allow the time to be used to care for
children and spouses
 CA and MA also allow for parents and parents of a spouse
 CA extend the definitions further to include grandchildren/
grandparents and siblings
All states allow time to be used for domestic violence with CT also referencing
sexual assault and CA expanding further to reference public health emergencies.

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The Gory Details
State Level - Carryover
 All states have a layer of requirements for carryover
 Employers in CA and CT are able to avoid the carryover
requirements if they provide “full” paid sick entitlement at the
start of the year
California Connecticut Massachusetts
Carryover requirement All unused time Up to 40 hours Up to 40 hours
Maximum accrual 48 hours/year 40 hours/year 40 hours/year
Usage limit per year 24 hours/year 40 hours/year 40 hours/year
If an employee is rehired in CA within 12 months, they are entitled to sick time
available at the time of separation unless paid out.
In MA, if an employee misses time but arranges to make up the time within the
pay period, the employee does not need to use accrued sick.

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The Gory Details
State Level - Notice
 Employers must provide some degree of notice in all
states
 CT references an individual notice or posting of employee
rights
 MA references an individual notice as well as posting of
employee rights
 CA adds a layer of complexity by requiring employees to
inform employees of hours available on their wage payment
Employee Notice
California Connecticut Massachusetts
Foreseeable Leave “Reasonable” 7 day notice “Good Faith Effort…”
Unforeseeable Leave As soon as practical As soon as practical No Provision

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The Gory Details
State Level - Certification
 Certification requirements for paid sick leave are vague
 CA lacks a certification provision except to say the employer
may require the employee to provide a written certification
verifying time was used for the intended purpose
 CT and MA allow for certification if 3 consecutive workdays
are missed

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Covered Employers
 All employers: San Francisco, NJ cities (with limited
exceptions), Washington, D.C., Portland
 Employers with 50+ in-state employees (CT); 5 or
more employees (NYC)
 Tiered number of employees: larger employers must
provide paid leave; smaller provide unpaid leave
(Portland, OR)

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Eligible Employees
 Based on actual time worked in the city per year:
 “Occasional” workers who work 240+ hrs/yr in the city
(Seattle, Portland)
 80+ hrs/yr in city (NYC and New Jersey cities)
 30 days working in CA
 2 hours in one week in calendar year (San Diego,
Oakland)
 Relative time worked in the city: Employees must
either spend at least half of their time in D.C. or are
based in D.C., and don’t spend more than half of
their time working elsewhere
 Only non-exempt “service workers,” those within 64
BLS classifications (CT)

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Accrual Rules
 Accrual Rate:
 Majority: 1 hr/30 hours worked (1/30)
 Others: 1/40 (CT); tiered rates based on employer size (the
more employees, the lower the number of hours to accrue
an hour)
 When does accrual begin and when can it be used?
 Majority rule: date of hire/after 90 days of employment
 Others: use after 120 days (NYC); 180 days (SEA); 680 hrs
(CT)
 Max accrual/annual cap
 Majority rule: 40 per year
 Others: San Francisco, Oakland (72); size based maximums

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Family Member Definitions
 Siblings, grandparents, grandchild
 Siblings in law, “committed relationships” - D.C.
 Domestic partner – New York City and Portland, OR.
 Spouse, civil union partner or domestic partner of
grandparent – NJ cities
 A person to be named annually if no spouse or
domestic partner (SF0, Oakland)

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Reasons for Leave Beyond the “Usual”
 Domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking: MA, D.C.,
Seattle, CA, CT, Portland, Eugene
 Public health emergency at work or a child’s school:
Seattle, NYC, Jersey City, Portland, NJ cities
 Death of a family member (Tacoma, WA)

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Carryover Requirements
 Majority rule: All accrued but unused time
 Others:
 All unless paid out at year end – NJ cities (with certain
exceptions in Jersey City)
 All unless employer frontloads the annual requirement
(Portland, OR, CT, SEA, CA)
 Up to 40 hours, unless employer pays out at year end
AND frontloads the annual maximum accrual (NYC)

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Sick Leave Abuse
 Portland, OR Protected Sick Time Ordinance defines it
as “repeated use of unscheduled sick time on or
adjacent to weekends, holidays, vacation, or pay day,
regardless of the number of consecutive days.”
 The San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance defines a
“pattern of suspected abuse” by providing examples
such as an absence when an employee’s vacation
request was denied; when an employee is scheduled
for an undesirable shift; and on Mondays or Fridays
or days following a holiday.

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Where the Wild Things Are!
 Determining pay rate for those on other than hourly
programs
 Does “child” include adult child and, if so, under what
circumstances?
 Bereavement leave creates “womb to tomb” leave
coverage
 Adjunct professors in Philly need a better lobbyist
 Providing notice every payroll period

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Where the Wild Things Are!
 Requesting personal certification for each use of PSL
 Government certification that current policy satisfies
PSL law
 PSL is a floor for leave, not a ceiling
 Integrating PSL with other leave laws and paid leave
programs such as STD and workers compensation
 Think more! All PSL laws encourage employers to
provide more PSL than required!

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How Are Employers Managing
 Employers in this room are likely managing very well
compared to others; awareness is critical
 A good place to start: sign up for advisor/vendor blogs
 The difficult part: actually reading them
 Recently most employers have been in a reactionary
position; a pro-active approach is best
 A good place to start: set ownership at your firm, consider
your structure and how you want these types of absences
managed
 The difficult part: controlling communications and setting
policies

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How Are Employers Managing
 Some view paid sick as an outlier to their program; one-
offs will not work long term
 A good place to start: consider sick leave as part of your
integrated program
― Durations are short but this data will support your overall health and
productivity initiatives
― Accruals can be tricky…but consider your options
― If our core integrated providers will not manage accruals, other options
exist but there are trade offs
 The difficult part: Changing behavior of employees,
supervisors and HR
― Set some visions for where you want to be in 5 years knowing the
landscape WILL change

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Paid Sick Leave Resources
 2015 Compliance Conference Paid Sick Leave Grid
 Check out our blogs:
 http://www.disabilityleavelaw.com/
 http://www.presagia.com/category/enterprise-
dashboard/enterprise-blog/
 http://springgroup.com/knowledge-center/insight-blog/

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Questions?

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Teri Weber, ACI
Partner
teri.weber@springgroup.com
Mike Soltis, JD, LLM
Managing Partner and Litigation Manager
soltism@jacksonlewis.com
Geoffrey Simpson
Director, Sales and Marketing
gsimpson@presagia.com
Thank You
Send us an email for a copy of the 2015 Paid Sick Leave Grid!