§ 31-57s — Employer requirement to provide sick leave to employees. Use of leave. Employer compliance. Rate of pay during leave.

Connecticut § 31-57s

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 31: Labor
• Ch. 557: Employment Regulation

Text

(a) Each employer shall provide paid sick leave annually to each of such employer's employees in the state. Such paid sick leave shall accrue (1) (A) beginning (i) January 1, 2025, for an employee of an employer that employs twenty-five or more individuals in the state, (ii) January 1, 2026, for an employee of an employer that employs eleven or more individuals in the state, or (iii) January 1, 2027, for an employee of an employer that employs one or more individuals in the state, or (B) for an employee hired after said dates, beginning on the employee's first date of employment, (2) at a rate of one hour of paid sick leave for each thirty hours worked by an employee, and (3) in one-hour increments up to a maximum of forty hours per year. An employer may provide its employees with a greater amount of paid sick leave or provide paid sick leave at a faster rate than required by this subsection. Each employee shall be entitled to carry over up to forty unused accrued hours of paid sick leave from the current year to the following year, but no employee shall be entitled to use more than the maximum number of accrued hours, as described in subdivision (3) of this subsection, in any year. In lieu of any carry-over of unused paid sick leave from the current year to the following year, an employer may provide an employee with an amount of paid sick leave that meets or exceeds the requirements of this subsection and is available for the employee's immediate use at the beginning of the following year. (b) An employee shall be entitled to the use of any accrued paid sick leave on and after the one hundred twentieth calendar day of such employee's employment. (c) An employer shall be deemed to be in compliance with this section if the employer offers any other paid leave, or combination of other paid leave that (1) may be used for the purposes of, and under the same conditions as provided in, section 31-57t , and (2) is accrued in total at a rate equal to or greater than the rate described in subsection (a) of this section. For the purposes of this subsection, “other paid leave” may include, but need not be limited to, paid vacation, personal days or paid time off, including unlimited paid time off. (d) Each employer shall pay each employee for paid sick leave at a pay rate equal to (1) the normal hourly wage for that employee, or (2) the minimum fair wage rate under section 31-58 in effect for the pay period during which the employee uses paid sick leave, whichever is greater. For any employee whose hourly wage varies depending on the work performed by such employee, “normal hourly wage” means the average hourly wage of the employee in the pay period prior to the one in which the employee uses paid sick leave. (e) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section and sections 31-57t to 31-57w , inclusive, and upon the mutual consent of the employee and employer, an employee who chooses to work additional hours or shifts during the same or following pay period, in lieu of hours or shifts missed, shall not use accrued paid sick leave. (f) An employee who is exempt from overtime requirements under the provisions of 29 USC 213(a)(1), as amended from time to time, shall be presumed to work forty hours each work week for purposes of paid sick leave accrual, except each such employee, whose normal work week is less than forty hours, shall accrue paid sick leave based upon the hours worked in such normal work week. (g) (1) If an employee is transferred by an employer to another division, entity or worksite but remains employed by such employer, such employee shall retain and may use all paid sick leave accrued or received by the employee while working at such prior division, entity or worksite. (2) If another employer succeeds or takes the place of an existing employer, each employee of the original employer who remains employed by such other successor employer shall retain and may use all paid sick leave accrued or received while employed by the original employer. (h) No employer shall require an employee who will use or is using paid sick leave to search for or find another employee to serve as a replacement for such employee to work the hours that such employee is or was scheduled to work. (i) No employer shall (1) terminate any employee, (2) dismiss any employee, or (3) transfer any employee from one worksite to another solely in order to not qualify as an employer, as defined in section 31-57r .

Legislative History

(P.A. 11-52, S. 2; P.A. 14-122, S. 149; 14-128, S. 2; P.A. 24-8, S. 2.) History: P.A. 11-52 effective January 1, 2012; P.A. 14-122 made technical changes in Subsec. (d); P.A. 14-128 amended Subsec. (a)(3) to replace “calendar year” with “year”, amended Subsec. (b) to replace “calendar quarter” with “quarter” and make a technical change, and added Subsec. (f) re termination, dismissal or transfer of employee, effective January 1, 2015; P.A. 24-8 replaced references to service worker with references to employee in Subsecs. (a), (b), (d) and (e), amended Subsec. (a)(1) to add Subpara. designator (A), and therein delete “2012” and add accrual beginning dates for employees of employers of 25 or more, 11 or more, or 1 or more individuals in the state, and add Subpara. designator (B) and therein change “date of employment” to “first date of employment” and make a conforming change, amended Subsec. (a)(2) to replace “forty” with “thirty” and added provision re employer may provide greater amount of sick leave or at faster rate than required and provision re in lieu of carry-over of sick leave, amended Subsec. (b) to make a technical change and to change when employee is entitled to use sick leave, amended Subsec. (c) to add “, and under the same conditions as provided in,” and “, including unlimited paid time off” and made technical changes, made technical changes in Subsec. (d), added new Subsec. (f) re overtime, Subsec. (g) re transfer of an employee and re new employer succeeding existing employer, Subsec. (h) prohibiting employers from requiring employee to find replacement to use sick leave, and redesignated existing Subsec. (f) as Subsec. (i), effective January 1, 2025.