1. Office of Attorney General
Maura Healey
Earned Sick Time Law

2. Earned Sick Time Timeline of Implementation
The Earned Sick Time Law went into effect on July 1, 2015.
As of July 1, 2015, all employees in Massachusetts begin to accrue (earn) sick leave that may be used for authorized purposes.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

3. Earned Sick Time Overview
The law entitles employees in Massachusetts to earn and use up to 40 hours of sick time per year.
For employers with 11 or more employees, sick time must be paid.
For employers with 1 to 10 employees, sick time may be unpaid.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

4. Earned Sick Time Purposes
Employees must be able to use Earned Sick Time to:
care for their child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse;
care for themselves;
attend a routine medical appointment their child, spouse, parent, parent of a spouse, or themselves;
address the effects of domestic violence; or
travel to and from the location related to the purpose for which the time was taken.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

5. Which employees are eligible for Earned Sick Time?
All employees whose primary place of work is Massachusetts are eligible:
Full-time employees
Part-time employees
Seasonal employees
Temporary employees
Example: A painter with a single employer works 40% of her hours in Massachusetts, 30% in New Hampshire and 30% in other states. Massachusetts is her primary place of work.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

6. Accruing & Using Earned Sick Time
Employees earn sick time at the rate of 1 hour per 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year.
An employee begins to EARN sick time on their first date of actual work.
All hours worked, including hours worked outside of MA, count towards accrual.
Although employees begin to EARN sick time immediately, employees may not USE sick time until 90 days after their first day of work.
Employees may only use earned sick time for authorized purposes, up to 40 hours per year.
The smallest increment of sick time that may be used is 1 hour.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

7. Two ways to earn sick time: Accrual & Lump Sum
Employees will accrue (earn) sick time at a rate no less than 1 hour of sick time earned for every 30 hours worked.
Lump Sum:
Employers may also choose to provide lump sums of sick leave hours each month or each year.
Lump sums must be no less than 1 hour earned for every 30 worked OR align with the schedules in the final earned sick time regulations, 940 CMR (8).
Employers that provide a lump sum of 40 hours of sick leave to their employees at the beginning of each benefit year do not need to track accrual or allow for carryover of hours from one year to the next.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

8. 40 Hours of Earned Sick Time
Employees must be able to ACCRUE 40 hours in a year if they work sufficient hours;
Every employee must be able to USE 40 hours in a year, if accrued;
Employees who have unused time of up to 40 hours must be allowed to roll it over into the next year*;
Employers MAY delay further accrual while an employee has 40 hours in their bank.
*roll over is only required for accrual policies
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

9. Paying Earned Sick Time
Generally, employees are paid what they would have been paid if they had worked.
Employees using sick time do not make overtime or premium pay.
Employers must pay earned sick time on the same pay period as regular pay.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

10. Employees Obligations: Providing Notice
Employees must provide advance notice of sick leave absence, except in an emergency.
Employers may require employees to use reasonable notification systems to request leave.
During multi-day absences, an employer may require notification on a daily basis from the employee or the employee’s surrogate.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

11. Employers Obligations: Documentation
Generally, an employer may only require written documentation from a health care provider in the case of an absence of more than 24 consecutive hours OR 3 consecutive work days.
Employers may never require, as a condition of granting, using, or verifying earned sick time, that an employee provide documentation to explain the nature of their illness or the details of domestic violence.
Employers in certain industries with specific safety concerns may require a “fitness for duty” certification before an employee is cleared to return to work.
If an employee fails to provide required documentation without a reasonable justification, the employer may recoup the sick time pay as an overpayment.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

12. ©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
Record Keeping
Employers have to maintain records of earned sick time or records of their paid time off policy for three years.
Employers must give employees access to their own earned sick time / paid time off records.
Employers must post a notice of the EST law in each workplace and give a copy of the notice to each employee.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

13. ©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
Retaliation
Employers cannot retaliate against employees for exercising rights under the law, including: requesting and using sick leave; filing a complaint for violations; or telling others about the law.
Retaliation includes: denying use or delaying payment of earned sick time, terminating an employee, taking away work hours, giving the employee undesirable assignments, etc.
Attendance policies that provide bonuses for good attendance and holiday pay incentives that provide extra compensation for coming to work on the days immediately before and after a holiday are permissible (not retaliation).
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

14. How to use your own paid leave policies as an alternative.
Employers may have their own sick leave or paid time off policies, in lieu of Earned Sick Time, if all employees can:
use at least the same amount of time;
for the same purposes;
under the same conditions, and;
with the same job protections, as would be available under the Earned Sick Time Law.
Employers may have different paid leave policies for different groups of employees;
Employers that provide 40 or more hours of PTO or vacation to employees that also may be used as earned sick time shall not be required to provide additional sick leave to employees who use all their time for other purposes, provided that the employers’ leave policies make clear that additional time will not be provided.
Employers that wish to maintain separate use policies for paid time off in excess of 40 hours may do so, provided that they allow employees to designate which time is taken as earned sick time.
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

15. ©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
Thank You
Questions about the Earned Sick Time Law may be directed to the Attorney General’s Office
(617)
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

16. ©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey
Allowable Substitution of Employers’ Paid Leave Policies Allowable Lump Sum Schedules
Employers that prefer not to track accrual of sick time over the course of the benefit year may also use the following schedules for providing lump sums of sick leave or paid time off to their employees. Employers using these schedules will be in compliance even if an employee’s hours vary from week to week.
Employee Works an Average of this Number of Hours per Week
Employee is Provided this Number of Hours per Month , as a Lump Sum, to be used for Earned Sick Time
Employee will be Provided this Amount of Earned Sick Time over the Course of this Many Months
hours
8 hours per month
5 months
30 hours
5 hours per month
8 months
24 hours
4 hours per month
10 months
20 hours
9 months
16 hours
3 hours per month
10 hours
2 hours per month
5 hours
1 hour per month
©2015 Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey