Current Sick Days Laws

Paid sick days standards are emerging across the country. View a chart summarizing the key points in existing laws here.

Here’s a quick overview (as of June 23, 2016):

• At present, many government employees have access to paid sick days. All states provide paid sick days to at least some state employees, and the federal government provides 13 paid sick days a year to its nearly 2.5 million full-time employees that can be used for self- or family-care.
• Additionally, nine states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin — and the District of Columbia allow at least some workers who already have paid sick days to use them to care for certain family members. Some of these laws provide this right only to workers with seriously ill family members, while others permit flexible use of sick leave for family members with routine illnesses.
• Connecticut, California, Massachusetts and Oregon are the only states in the nation with statewide paid sick days laws in effect that allow a significant share of workers in the state to earn paid sick days to recover from illness, seek medical care, or care for a sick family member. These laws also include paid "safe" days that provide earned leave that allows survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault (all except Massachusetts), stalking (California and Oregon only) or harassment (Oregon only) to seek services related to these incidents.
• The cities of San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Portland (Ore.), New York City, Oakland (Calif.), Tacoma (Wash.), Philadelphia, Emeryville (Calif.) and the New Jersey cities of Newark, Jersey City, Irvington, Passaic, East Orange, Paterson, Trenton, Montclair, Bloomfield, New Brunswick and Elizabeth have laws that allow workers to earn paid sick days to recover from a short-term illness, care for a sick family member or seek routine medical care. The San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Portland, New Brunswick, Tacoma, Philadelphia and Emeryville laws also include paid "safe" days that provide earned leave that allows survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault (all but Tacoma), harassment (Portland only) and stalking (all but Tacoma) to seek services related to these incidents.
• San Diego (Calif.) also adopted a paid sick days law but it was challenged by opponents; in 2016, voters rejected the challenge and the law is expected to take effect later in 2016. Eugene's law was preempted by the passage of Oregon's statewide law. Pittsburgh's law was ruled invalid by a county court judge; its implementation is on hold pending appeal and rulings from higher state courts.
• In 2015, Montgomery County (Md.) passed a paid sick and safe days law that will take effect in 2016. In 2016, Spokane (Wash.), Vermont, Plainfield (N.J.), Minneapolis (Minn.), Chicago (Ill.) and the California cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles passed sick and safe days laws. Spokane's law will take effect in 2017. Vermont's law will take effect in 2017 for large businesses and 2018 for small businesses. Plainfield's law will take effect in 2016. Minneapolis's law will take effect in 2017. Santa Monica's ordinance will take effect in 2017. Los Angeles's law will take effect in 2016. And Chicago's law will take effect in 2017.

Bills

Statutes