Connecticut has enacted legislation that will expand the state's paid sick leave law to eventually cover all employers and employees and make other changes.
Currently, the state's paid sick leave law applies to employers with 50 or more employees in the state, and only "service workers" are entitled to receive paid sick leave. The expansion will occur in phases, with the first phase effective Jan. 1, 2025.
The Details
Covered Employers
The expansion of the paid sick leave requirement will be phased in as follows:
- Effective Jan. 1, 2025, employers with 25 or more employees in the state must provide paid sick leave to employees.
- Effective Jan. 1, 2026, employers with 11 or more employees in the state must provide paid sick leave to employees.
- Effective Jan. 1, 2027, employers with 1 or more employees in the state must provide paid sick leave to employees.
The amended law exempts employers that participate in a multi-employer health plan that is maintained pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between a construction-related union and employer.
Covered Employees
Effective Jan. 1, 2025, all private-sector employees are entitled to receive paid sick leave provided they work for a covered employer, except for seasonal employees (who work 120 days or fewer during a year) and certain unionized construction workers.
Accrual and Carryover
Under existing law, covered employers who use an accrual method must provide sick leave to employees at a rate of at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.
Effective Jan. 1, 2025, employees are entitled to accrue paid sick leave at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours per year.
Exempt employees are presumed to have worked 40 hours per week for the purposes of paid sick leave, unless the employee's normal workweek is less than 40 hours.
Employers must generally carryover up to 40 hours of unused paid sick leave to the following year. Under the amendment, in lieu of any carryover, an employer may provide an employee with an amount of paidsick leave that meets or exceeds the accrual requirements (above) and is available for the employee's immediate use at the beginning of the following year.
Waiting Period
The amendment removes the current requirement that employees first work 680-hours and 10 or more hours per week in a quarter and instead adopts a shorter waiting period without reference to work in a previous quarter. An employee is entitled to use any accrued paid sick leave on and after their 120th calendar day with the employer.
Use
Eligible employees may currently use paid sick leave for:
- The employee's or the employee's family member's illness, injury or health condition;
- The medical diagnosis, care or treatment of the employee's or family member's mental or physical illness, injury or health condition;
- Preventive medical care for the employee's or family member's mental or physical health;
- The employee's mental health wellness day;
- When the employee or family member is a victim of family violence or sexual assault;
The amendment adds the following reasons for which employees may use paid sick leave:
- Closure by order of a public official, due to a public health emergency, of either: (1) an employer's place of business or (2) a family member's school or place of care;
- A determination by a health authority, the employee's employer, a family member's employer, or a healthcare provider that an employee or family member poses a risk to the health of others due to an exposure to a communicable illness, regardless of whether the employee or family member contracted the communicable illness.
Definition of Family Member
The law currently allows eligible employees to use their available paid sick leave to care for their child or spouse. Spouse is defined as "husband or wife."
The amendment expands the definition of a family member to include:
- Spouses (includes a person who is legally married to an employee or an employee's domestic partner)
- Siblings;
- Children;
- Grandparents;
- Grandchildren;
- Parents; and
- Individuals who are "related to the employee by blood or affinity whose close association the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships."
Employer Notice Requirements
Under current law, employers must post, in a conspicuous place at any workplace or site, a notice (in both English and Spanish), informing employees of their paid sick leave rights under Connecticut law.
The amendment adds a requirement that employers provide individual notice to employees of their rights to paid sick leave at the time of hire or Jan. 1, 2025, whichever is later.
For employers that don't maintain a physical workplace or for employees that telework or perform work through a web-based or application-based platform, employers must comply with the provisions of the law by sending such information via electronic communication or by a conspicuous posting of such information on a web-based or application-based platform.
The Connecticut Department of Labor will make acceptable posters and notices available on its website.
Employee Notice and Documentation
The amendment removes existing employee advance notice requirements. The amendment also prohibits employers from requiring an employee to provide any documentation that such leave is being taken for one of the purposes permitted by the law.
Finding Replacements
The amendment prohibits employers from requiring an employee who will use or is using paid sick leave to search for or find coverage for their work hours.
Pay During Leave
During paid sick leave, employees must be paid at a pay rate equal to: (1) the normal hourly wage for that employee, or (2) the minimum wage in effect for the pay period during which the employee uses paid sick leave. The amendment makes clear that whichever is greater is the rate that applies.
Wage Statement Requirements
The amendment adds new wage statement requirements. Employers must provide to employees with each wage payment:
- The number of hours, if any, of paid sick leave accrued by or provided to the employee; and
- The number of hours, if any, of paid sick leave used by the employee during the calendar year.
Employers must furnish the information in writing, unless the employer has the employee's explicit consent to provide it electronically. If this information is provided electronically, the employer must provide a means for each employee to securely, privately and conveniently access and print such records.
Employers must retain records of such information for at least three years.
Next steps
Connecticut employers should:
- Read the amended law in full
- Review policies and procedures to determine if changes should be made.
- Train supervisors on the amended law.
- Comply with the law by the applicable date.
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