Connecticut has become the first state to mandate paid sick
leave for certain employees. Pursuant to Connecticut
General Statute Section 31-57s, employers must provide paid sick leave to their
employees if they have 50 or more employees working in any one quarter of the
calendar year. Whether an employer has 50 or more employees is determined on
the basis of the Quarterly Earnings Report that an employer is required to
submit to the Connecticut Department of
Labor in accordance with Conn. Gen.
Stat. Sec. 31-225a(j). You are
subject to the act if you have 50 or more employees even if you employ fewer
than 50 service workers. Some employers, such
as 501(c)(3) organizations, for example, are exempt from the paid sick leave
requirement.
This law only applies to those employees that fall into the
broad definition of a "service
worker" under the Act. It does not apply to day or temporary workers,
salaried employees, or non-hourly workers. Service workers may accrue one hour
of paid sick leave for every forty hours worked. The maximum amount of paid
sick leave a worker may accrue in one calendar year is forty hours.
According to Governor Malloy, the purpose of the new paid
sick leave law is to promote good public health, by giving those workers who
might otherwise be serving food or caring for young children, an opportunity to
be able to afford to stay home when sick. With questions on how this new law
many affect you as an employer or whether you may qualify for paid sick leave
as an employee, please contact Attorney David
Rintoul.
