1. Make Light Work of the Paid Sick Leave Trends with your Handbook

2. Today’s Presenters Melissa Burdorf XpertHR Legal Editor Lead
Adam Kazansky
XpertHR VP of Customer Success

3. Paid Sick Leave (PSL) Laws
More than doubled from 2014 to 2015, uptick
As of January 2017:
7 states have PSL laws (AZ, CA, CT, MA, OR, WA and VT).
D.C., and over 30 municipalities have PSL laws.
Executive Order provides PSL to federal contractors.
Trend likely to continue based on DC priorities.
Trump‘s focus does not appear to include a federal PSL law. NO mention about repealing the EO for federal contractors, yet.
Means MORE STATE/LOCAL LAWS

4. PSL A trend you cannot ignore
Small employers
Small municipalities
Employers that operate in more than 1 location with PSL laws must deal with variations in requirements.
Requirements vary on:
Employer coverage,
Employee eligibility,
Accrual,
Amount of entitlement,
Notice provisions,
Certification, and
Covered reasons.
Smaller municipalities passing laws– hard to track/get accurate up-to-date information.

5. Why Care? Why Worry?

6. PSL Complaint Statistics for NYC
January 1,2016 – December 2, 2016
288 complaints in less than 1 year
$940, amount in fines to employer
$1,901, amount of restitution to employees
5,528 employees receiving restitution.
Nature of Complaints
180 – employee not paid for sick leave (double retaliation #)
157- employer failed to provide notice
149 – sick time policy not in writing or inadequate
83 – didn’t allow use of sick time
82 – retaliation
Just one example, NYC effective April 1, 2014
Toys R’ Us, CVS, Lowes and Mom and Pop businesses
Nature of complaints highlights importance of proper notice and having a policy in writing and full up-to-date/accurate

7. Mobile Workforce and Telecommuters
Mobile and telecommuting workforces on the rise.
Many PSL laws define an employee as one who performs work within the geographic boundaries of the City of ___ for at least ___ hours in a week/year.
Employee can telecommute for 2 days in 1 city and work 3 days in another, both w/ PSL laws. Accrual/Tracking
Employers with operations or employees near any of the locations with a PSL law need to consider impact on laws outside their home state.
When employee works in several locations employer must determine how many hours employee worked in each location for tracking accrual (e.g., GPS tracking device, reasonable estimate based on mileage tracking; real time logs supported with dates, purposes of visit, etc.

8. State Preemption of Local PSL Laws
10 states preempt paid sick leave (expressly prohibit cities/counties passing laws requiring PSL)
Purpose = foster statewide uniformity and consistency for employers with employees in multiple jurisdictions.

9. Employee Handbook
Recommended to include PSL policies in handbook because:
Employee acknowledgment;
Can meet PSL law’s notice requirements;
Lays out rules re: accrual, caps, documentation/notification requirements, eligibility, etc.
Some locations, e.g., Philadelphia, require notice of PSL rights be included in handbook distributed to employees. Others, e.g., Jersey City, suggest to include notice or key provisions in handbooks.
When creating handbook consider whether to:
Comply with each PSL law, only for employees in that location via separate PSL handbook statements; or
Construct 1 single universal PSL policy that meets legal requirements for all PSL laws. .

10. Universal Paid Sick Leave Policy or Separate Policies?
Universal (one policy applies to employees in all PSL locations)
Separate Policies (specific policies for each PSL location)
Administratively easier; may provide more benefits than required (costly).
Minimum requirements of all laws must be in the “employee’s” favor (hard)
Potential frequent updates as new laws arise.
Consider giving benefits to employees in locations not covered by PSL law.
More cost effective.
Easier to update policies or add new ones.
Greater administrative headaches (tracking/accrual).
Employees in locations with less benefits may get frustrated.

11. Accrue or Frontload? Under Accrual Method:
Employees receive a specified amount of PSL for a certain # of hours worked.
Employees stop receiving PSL for hours worked once they reach max amount.
Employers must permit carryover where applicable.
Tracking and accounting for accrual can be administratively burdensome especially if operate in multiple jurisdictions with different accrual rates.
Under Frontloading Method:
Employees receive and can immediately use a specified amount of PSL at the beginning of each year – not necessarily proportional to hours worked so far.
Allows employers to avoid the accrual and carryover provisions of the law and can be less administratively burdensome BUT If employee leaves, may not recoup time used and could cause scheduling problems.
Need to be careful when prorating PSL when an employee hired mid-year.

12. TRAIN SUPERVISORS
Supervisors usually first point of contact when an employee calls out sick.
Supervisors need to, at a minimum know:
What are the acceptable reasons for taking PSL;
What is the employer’s process for an employee to request PSL (who to report to, paperwork, etc.);
How to spot abuse of PSL and what to do;
What are the handbook policy requirements; and
Not to retaliate/discriminate against employees who take or request leave or tells another employee of their rights.

13. Coming to the PSL World Soon
July 1, 2017
January 1, 2018
Los Angeles (Smaller Employers)
Minneapolis
Chicago
Arizona
St. Paul, Minnesota (Larger Employers)
Cook County, Illinois
Vermont (Small Employers)
St. Paul, Minnesota (Smaller Employers)
Washington

14. Checklist for Compliance
Develop or update policy
Use an existing PTO policy?
Universal policy OR separate policies?
Provide sick leave in locations not covered by the law?
Track accruals and usage of PSL time.
Comply with the notice and posting requirements.
Comply with recordkeeping obligations.
Determine if and how PSL laws interact with each other (in some cases, other laws, e.g., FMLA) and adjust business practices; and
Monitor/track PSL developments where operate/have employees.

15. Contact us at 1-855-XPERTHR or inquiries@xperthr.com
Thank you
Contact us at XPERTHR or
Learn more at: