Our firm has recently updated our national survey of paid sick leave laws, and it is clear that these laws have both advanced and retreated nationwide.

From 2006 to 2014, eighteen localities have passed mandatory paid sick leave laws, including San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. The three states that have passed mandatory paid sick leave laws are California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. However, other states have refused to endorse mandatory paid sick leave, adopting laws that prohibit local governments from establishing the right to paid sick leave, such as Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for our clients, once laws are passed, will be dealing with their various requirements. Many of the laws differ in key areas, such as which employees are covered, how much sick time employees accrue, what sick leave can be used for, and whether sick leave can carry over from year to year. For instance, covered employees in Connecticut accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every forty hours worked, while covered employees in California and Massachusetts accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked. We will advise our clients if any of these proposals actually become law in Illinois or in the metropolitan area with local units of government, and how they should best address them.