Compliance FYI: Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Updates
On May 21, 2024, Connecticut Governor Lamont signed Public Act 24-8 into law updating Connecticut’s existing paid sick leave requirements. Under current law, Connecticut’s paid sick leave requirements only apply to “service workers” and employers with 50 or more service workers. Starting January 1, 2025, Connecticut’s paid sick leave requirements expand to cover more employers and their employees.
Covered Employers and Employees
Whether or not an employer is covered by the law depends on the numbers of employees it has in Connecticut.
- Effective January 1, 2025, employers with 25 or more employees in Connecticut are covered.
- Effective January 1, 2026, employers with 11 or more employees in Connecticut are covered.
- Effective January 1, 2027, employers with 1 or more employees in Connecticut are covered.
All employees of a covered employer, except for seasonal employees who work 120 days or less in a year, are covered by the law.
The paid prenatal personal leave can be taken in hourly increments and employees must be paid their regular rate of pay or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater, in hourly installments. Any unused paid prenatal personal leave does not need to be paid out at the termination of employment.
Reasons for Leave
Leave may be taken under Connecticut’s paid sick leave law for the following reasons:
- Employee’s or employee’s family member’s illness, injury, or health condition;
- The medical diagnosis, care or treatment of an employee’s or employee’s family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;
- Preventative medical care for an employee or an employee’s family member;
- Employee’s mental health wellness day;
- Closure of employer’s place of business or a family member’s school/place of care by a public health official due to a public health emergency;
- Determination by health authority having jurisdiction, employer of employee/family member, or healthcare provider that the employee/employee’s family member poses a risk to the health of others due to communicable illness;
- Certain circumstances arising when an employee or an employee’s family member is the victim of family violence or sexual assault
Who is a family member?
The changes coming to Connecticut’s paid sick leave law expand the definition of “family member.” Effective January 1, 2025, for the purposes of Connecticut’s paid sick leave law, family member includes spouse, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild, parent, or an individual related to employee by blood or affinity whose close association the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships.
Amount of Leave
Employees accrue 1 hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, with a maximum accrual of 40 hours in a year. Leave must be available for use on the 120th calendar day of employment.
Up to 40 hours of earned, but unused paid sick leave carries over from year to year. Carryover can be avoided if an employer frontloads at least 40 hours of paid sick leave on the first day of the year.
Employers can comply with Connecticut’s paid sick leave requirements by using an existing paid leave policy if leave under the existing policy may be used for the same purposes, under the same conditions, and accrues at a rate equal to or greater than leave under Connecticut state law.
Employer Notice and Recordkeeping Requirements
Covered employers should be sure they have an up to date paid sick leave poster displayed at their worksite. An updated poster is available here. Be sure to access the poster with information effective for January 1, 2025.
Covered employers must provide employees notice of their rights under the law by January 1, 2025, or upon hire, whichever is later. A sample notice is available here.
Employers must have records of the number of hours of paid sick leave accrued/provided to an employee and number of paid sick leave used by the employee. Records must be retained for three years.
Key Takeaways:
Employers with employees in Connecticut should review the changes to Connecticut’s paid sick leave law. Employers who previously did not need to comply with the requirements may need to come January 1, 2025, or at some point in the future.
The information provided is a summary of laws and regulations relating to employee benefit plan compliance. This information should not be construed as legal advice. In all cases, employers should consult with their own legal counsel.
