Connecticut Expands Paid Sick Leave Law
Beginning January 1, 2025, Connecticut’s paid sick leave law—which currently covers employers with 50 or more employees and only applies to service workers—will be significantly expanded to cover almost all employees and employers. Here are the key points:
Who & When
Employers will be required to comply with the new law on the following dates, based on the number of their employees in Connecticut:
January 1, 2025 - Employers with 25+ employees
January 1, 2026 - Employers with 11–24 employees
January 1, 2027 - Employers with 1–10 employees
Use the number of employees on payroll during the January 1 cycle to determine employee count. All employees will be covered, except seasonal employees who work 120 days or less per year.
What
Employees will accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, beginning on the effective date. Exempt employees accrue leave based on a 40-hour workweek, or the number of hours they usually work.
Employees carry over up to 40 hours of unused sick leave from one benefit year to the next. Employers have the option to annually frontload leave, in which case they don’t need to allow carryover of hours into the next year.
Why
Employees will be able to use paid sick leave for the following reasons:
Their own, or their family member’s, mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or preventative care
Their own mental health wellness day
The closure of their workplace or family member’s school/place of care by a public health official
Limiting exposure to communicable disease
The employee or their family member being a victim of family violence or sexual assault
Employees will be able to use paid sick leave for any “family member,” which includes anyone whose relationship to the employee is equivalent to a family relationship. Employees must be allowed to use accrued sick leave no later than their 120th day of employment
How
Employers cannot require employees to provide documentation to support the use of sick leave. Employers must give all employees written notice about sick leave rights by January 1, 2025, or upon hire and post the notice in English and Spanish or via email/web for remote employees. (The Connecticut Department of Labor will prepare a sample poster and notice on their website.) Employers need to give employees written notification of available paid sick leave and how much has been used each time they’re paid.
Notice requirements appear to apply to employers of all sizes on January 1, 2025, even if employees won’t be eligible for several years.
Action Items
By the effective date applicable to your organization, add a sick leave policy to your handbook or, if you already have a sick leave or PTO policy, review it to ensure it meets the requirements of the amended sick leave law.
Add the sick leave notice to your new-hire packet.
Display the sick leave poster at each worksite. For employees who work remotely, send a copy of the poster by electronic means or post to an accessible online platform.