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 November 9, 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, 10 states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 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, New York City, Oakland (Calif.), Tacoma (Wash.), Philadelphia, Emeryville (Calif.), Los Angeles (Calif.), San Diego (Calif.) and the New Jersey cities of Newark, Jersey City, Irvington, Passaic, East Orange, Paterson, Trenton, Montclair, Bloomfield, New Brunswick, Elizabeth and Plainfield, and Montgomery County (Md.) 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, New Brunswick, Tacoma, Philadelphia, Emeryville, San Diego, Los Angeles and Montgomery County laws also include paid "safe" days that provide earned leave that allows survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault (all but Tacoma), and stalking (all but Tacoma) to seek services related to these incidents.
• Eugene's and Portland's laws were 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 2016, the states of Arizona, Vermont and Washington and the cities and counties of Spokane (Wash.), Minneapolis and St. Paul (Minn.), Chicago and Cook County (Ill.), and the California cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles passed sick and safe days laws, and Berkeley (Calif.) and Morristown and Plainfield (N.J.) passed paid sick days laws. The laws in Plainfield and Los Angeles took effect in 2016. The laws in Arizona, Spokane, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Chicago, Cook County, Santa Monica, Berkeley and Morristown will take effect in 2017.

Bills

Statutes