Beginning January 1, 2025, Connecticut’s paid sick leave law—which currently covers employers with 50 or more employees in the state and only applies to service workers—will be significantly expanded to cover almost all employees and employers. Below are some of the key provisions.
Employer Coverage
Employers will be required to comply with the new law on the following dates, based on the number of employees they have in Connecticut:
January 1, 2025: employers with 25 or more employees
January 1, 2026: employers with 11–24 employees
January 1, 2027: employers with 1–10 employees
Employers should use the number of employees on their payroll during the January 1 payroll cycle to determine employee count.
Employee Coverage
All employees will be covered by the expanded law, with the exception of seasonal employees who work 120 days or less per year.
Accrual, Carryover, and Frontloading
Employees will accrue paid sick leave at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked beginning on the effective date of the law (or their date of hire, if it’s later). Exempt employees accrue leave based on a 40-hour workweek, or the number of hours they usually work if less than 40. Employees will carry over up to 40 hours of unused sick leave from one benefit year to the next.
Employers have the option to frontload leave on an annual basis, in which case they don’t need to allow carryover of hours into the next year.
Use
Employees will be able to use paid sick leave for the following reasons:
Their own, or their family member’s, mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or preventative care
Their own mental health wellness day
The closure of their workplace or their family member’s school or place of care by a public health official because of a public health emergency
Certain reasons related to limiting the exposure to communicable disease
Certain reasons related to the employee or their family member being a victim of family violence or sexual assault
Employees will be able to use paid sick leave for any family member. Family member is defined broadly and includes anyone whose relationship to the employee is equivalent to a family relationship.
Employees must be allowed to use their accrued paid sick leave no later than their 120th calendar day of employment.
Documentation
Employers cannot require employees to provide documentation to support their use of paid sick leave.
Notice to Employees
Employers must give all employees written notice about their paid sick leave rights by January 1, 2025, or upon hire—whichever is later. They are also required to post the notice in English and Spanish in a conspicuous location in the workplace that’s accessible to employees. For employees that don’t report to a physical workplace, the notice can be provided to them by email or by posting it on a web or app-based platform. These notice requirements appear to apply to employers of all sizes on January 1, 2025, even if their employees won’t be eligible to accrue paid sick leave for several years.
The Connecticut Department of Labor will prepare a sample poster and notice that will be made available on their website.
Employers also need to give employees written notification of their available paid sick leave and how much they’ve used that calendar year each time they’re paid. Employers can provide this information on a paystub or electronically if the employee consents and the employer provides a way for employees to privately access and print the information.
Action Items
By the effective date applicable to your organization, add a sick leave policy to your handbook or, if you already have a sick leave or PTO policy, review it to ensure it meets the requirements of the amended sick leave law.
Add the sick leave notice to your new-hire packet.
Display the sick leave poster at each worksite. For employees that work remotely, send a copy of the poster by electronic means or post to an accessible online platform.