Sick leave laws by state

Tracking sick time off in Gusto

Set up a sick time off policy or emergency sick pay policy so you can keep track of time off taken by your employees and pay your team for sick hours when you run payroll. You can set up multiple types of policies to apply to different groups of employees if needed. 

Policy options include:

• Sick policy
  • If you need to have both a sick policy and an emergency sick leave policy, set up the emergency sick policy as a Custom policy. 
• Limited and unlimited time off policy
• Holiday pay policy

Employer requirements for paid time off balances

Some states, like California, require employers to give their employees updated reports of their unused time off. You can meet this requirement by running a time off balances report.

You can also give your employees access to Gusto and give them these instructions for how they can locate this information themselves.

State and local resources

If you have questions about a sick leave ordinance for a particular state or city, contact the applicable local authority or review the ordinance online.

Below is a list of some states and cities that have passed sick leave ordinances, including links to the specific ordinances or other resources. If you operate in a city or state that requires sick leave and is missing from the list, let us know.

State	City/State Agency Resources
Alaska	Alaska legislature
Arizona	State of Arizona
California	State of California [2023 update]: The COVID sick pay policy expired 12/31/2022. Regular Paid Sick Leave requirements Berkeley Emeryville Long Beach Los Angeles Oakland San Diego San Francisco Santa Monica
Colorado	State of Colorado Poster: Paid leave, whistleblowing, and protective equipment Which employers: All employers Type: Paid sick leave Accrual: one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked Maximum: 48 hours per year Carryover: Yes, may carry forward and use in subsequent calendar years up to 48 hours of paid sick leave that is not used in the year in which it is accrued Accruing begins: when employment begins Usage: may use paid sick leave as it is accrued
Connecticut	State of Connecticut
District of Columbia	Washington, D.C.
Illinois	Chicago Cook County
Maine	State of Maine First state to offer paid leave—not specific to sick time.
Maryland	State of Maryland Montgomery County
Massachusetts	State of Massachusetts
Michigan	State of Michigan
Minnesota	State of Minnesota Bloomington (paid sick leave ordinance) Duluth Minneapolis St. Paul
Montana	Montana Department of Labor and Industry FAQs
Nevada	State of Nevada  Nevada employers must provide paid leave for employees to receive a Covid-19 vaccination
New Jersey	State of New Jersey—scroll down and click the "For employers" tab. Bloomfield East Orange Elizabeth Irvington Jersey City Montclair Morristown New Brunswick Newark Passaic Paterson Plainfield Trenton
New Mexico	NM paid sick leave
New York	New York State COVID-19  Requires employers with five or more employees or net income of more than $1 million to provide paid sick leave to employees and for employers with fewer than five employees and a net income of $1 million or less to provide unpaid sick leave to employees.  New York City Westchester County
North Carolina	North Carolina General Statutes search tool
Oregon	State of Oregon Info on the new Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program–effective Jan 1, 2023–can be found in this article. Eugene Portland
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia Pittsburgh
Rhode Island	State of Rhode Island
Texas	Austin Dallas San Antonio
Vermont	State of Vermont
Virginia	Virginia law search tool
Washington	State of Washington At a minimum, you must provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked by an employee, regardless of full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal status. If a local ordinance requires more generous paid sick leave benefits for employees than state law, those requirements will apply. Seattle SeaTac Tacoma
West Virginia	You can search the West Virginia Legislature for the most up-to-date laws.