Massachusetts joins California, Connecticut, Washington, D.C. and several cities in requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to employees after a voter referendum passed with 60 percent of voters in favor. The full text of the Massachusetts Paid Sick Leave Initiative can be found here. The Massachusetts law will require up to 40 hours weeks of paid sick leave where employers have 11 employees or more and will require up to 40 weeks of unpaid sick leave for employers with fewer than 11 employees. The law will go into effect July 1, 2015.
Both part-time and full-time Massachusetts employees of the larger employers (11 or more employees), will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work. Leave can be taken to care for a family member, to attend routine medical appointments for self or family member, or to deal with domestic violence for the employee or child. Up to 40 hours of unused sick time may be rolled over into the following year. Similar unpaid leave will be earned by employees of smaller employers.
Employees are required to give advance notice of their need for leave when possible and may be required to present documentation to the employer regarding the leave. Employees cannot be penalized by employers for using sick leave as allowed under the law.
Responding to trend of cities/municipalities in states including California and New Jersey passing their own sick-pay laws, ten states, including Georgia, Wisconsin, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kansas, Arizona, Indiana, and Florida have passed laws prohibiting local jurisdictions within the state from passing such laws.
Considering that the United States is one of only 22 wealthy nations that does not guarantee paid sick leave to workers, employers and employees should not be surprised to see this trend continue. According to the Huffington Post, "nationally, only one in three workers in the bottom quarter of the wage scale has paid sick leave, while only one in four part-time workers does," so such measures will likely have the most impact on lower-income employees.
Both part-time and full-time Massachusetts employees of the larger employers (11 or more employees), will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work. Leave can be taken to care for a family member, to attend routine medical appointments for self or family member, or to deal with domestic violence for the employee or child. Up to 40 hours of unused sick time may be rolled over into the following year. Similar unpaid leave will be earned by employees of smaller employers.
Employees are required to give advance notice of their need for leave when possible and may be required to present documentation to the employer regarding the leave. Employees cannot be penalized by employers for using sick leave as allowed under the law.
Responding to trend of cities/municipalities in states including California and New Jersey passing their own sick-pay laws, ten states, including Georgia, Wisconsin, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kansas, Arizona, Indiana, and Florida have passed laws prohibiting local jurisdictions within the state from passing such laws.
Considering that the United States is one of only 22 wealthy nations that does not guarantee paid sick leave to workers, employers and employees should not be surprised to see this trend continue. According to the Huffington Post, "nationally, only one in three workers in the bottom quarter of the wage scale has paid sick leave, while only one in four part-time workers does," so such measures will likely have the most impact on lower-income employees.
RSS Feed
