The new “Earned Sick Time for Employees” law requires Massachusetts employers to provide paid sick time for their employees. This article will provide a summary of the regulations to assist businesses in being compliant.
Employees will begin earning 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked effective July 1, 2015, or their date of hire, whichever is later. Employees may begin using their accrued sick time 90 days after their hire date. If a business has 11 or more employees, the employees can earn and use up to 40 hours of paid sick time per calendar year. If a business has its own policies that provide as much sick leave or more, which can be used for the same purposes as the new law outlines, you are not required to provide additional sick time. For a business that employs less than 11 employees, the sick leave may be unpaid. All full-time, part-time and temporary or seasonal employees are counted in the determination of the number of a business’ employees. The smallest amount of sick time that an employee can use is 1 hour.
There are certain conditions that must be met for an employee to use paid or unpaid sick time. An employee can use sick time to:
- Care for a physical or mental illness, injury or medical condition affecting the employee or their child, spouse, parent or parent of a spouse
- Attend routine medical appointments or those of their child, spouse, parent or parent of a spouse
- Address the effects of domestic violence on themselves or their dependent child
Employers must compensate the employee for sick time at their regular hourly rate in the same payroll cycle that the sick time was used. Employers cannot require an employee to work additional hours to make-up used sick time. Up to 40 hours of accrued sick time, if unused at the end of the calendar year, may be carried over to the new calendar year. Yet employees may not use more than 40 hours of sick time per calendar year. Employers do not have to pay employees for unused sick time at the end of their employment. Employers must post a notice of the new law in their place of business in a visible place and provide a copy to all employees. The link to the notice provided on the Mass.gov website for posting and distribution in an employer’s place of business is here at http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/workplace/earned-sick-time/est-employee-notice.pdf.
Employers must note that a violation of the new “Earned Sick Time for Employees” law may subject them to civil penalties up to $25,000 per violation. In addition, the employee can file a civil suit against the employer for the violations and may recover damages, cost of litigation and attorney’s fees.
The Attorney General’s Office has written the guidelines for implementing the law. They have a webpage to answer any questions you may have about the new law at http://www.mass.gov/ago/doing-business-in-massachusetts/labor-laws-and-public-construction/earned-sick-time/, or you can email them at earnedsicktime@state.ma.us.
