Earned Sick Leave Becomes Law in Massachusetts
November 5, 2014 - Fisher & Phillips LLP
On November 4, 2014,
Massachusetts voters passed a ballot measure to provide earned paid sick leave
to employees. Effective July 1, 2015, employers with more than 10
employees will be required to allow all employees who work in Massachusetts to
accrue and use up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.
Employers with 10 or fewer employees will be required to allow their employees
to earn and use up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave.
However,
employers that already provide their employees paid time off under a paid time
off, vacation, or other paid leave policy are not required to provide any
additional paid sick time under this law, provided they permit employees to use
at least 40 hours per calendar year for the purposes covered under the law.
Furthermore, this law does not override any employer’s obligations
under any collective bargaining agreement, contract, or benefit plan with more
generous provisions.
Employees can use earned sick leave, whether
paid or unpaid, to:
- care for a physical or mental illness, injury or medical condition
affecting the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a
spouse;
- attend routine medical appointments of the employee or the employee’s
child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse; or
- address the effects of domestic violence on the employee or the employee’s
dependent child.
How Is The Time Earned?
Employees will earn a minimum of one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours
worked starting on July 1, 2015 or from their date of hire (whichever is later),
up to a maximum of 40 hours per calendar year. Employees are not entitled to use
their accrued earned sick time for the first 90 days of their employment.
As with the Family and Medical Leave Act, employees may use their earned
sick leave intermittently, either in hourly increments or the smallest increment
in the payroll system for absences.
Employees are permitted to
carry-over up to 40 hours of earned but unused sick leave into the next calendar
year. Unlike vacation and other paid time off, employers are not
required to pay employees for accrued but unused sick leave upon separation
from employment.
You may require medical certification of the need
for earned sick leave if your employee is absent for more than 24 consecutively
scheduled work hours, but you may not delay or deny sick leave because you have
not received medical certification. When the need for leave is
foreseeable, employees must make a good faith effort to provide advance notice
of their leave.
What Are Employees’ Rights?
Employers are prohibited from interfering with an employee’s right to
earned sick leave or retaliating against an employee who requests earned sick
leave. Employers are also prohibited from retaliating against an employee
based on the employee’s support of another employee’s exercise of such
rights. In addition to enforcement by the Massachusetts Attorney General,
employees who believe their rights under this act have been violated will have a
private right of action to sue their employers. The Attorney General is
required to create a notice poster informing employees of their rights and
responsibilities under this law. The Attorney General will also prescribe all
employers’ obligations to make, keep, and preserve records concerning earned
sick time.
What Should A Massachusetts Employer
Do?
In anticipation of these changes, Massachusetts employers
should review their paid time off, vacation, or other paid leave policies to
determine whether they will have to implement earned sick leave for any of their
employees. You should also inform your managers and supervisors the company’s
new policy changes and advise them of their added responsibilities.
Also
consider revising your employee handbooks to account for these changes and be on
the look-out for the poster issued by the Massachusetts Attorney General.
If you have any questions about this new law please contact the Fisher &
Phillips attorneys in the Boston office at (617) 722-0044.