Paid Sick Leave Laws

Another pressing issue you need to have on your recruiting radar is paid sick leave. If you want to place contractors in multiple US cities, the considerations are numerous and complex. Sometimes paid sick leave laws vary by county! 

Below, we list 8 of the pressing issues to consider when determining if your contractors also require paid sick leave :

1. Keep up to date. The requirements are traditionally enacted at the state or municipal level, making it nearly impossible to find a sole source for information. You must be proactive about researching and alerting yourself to new bills, whether they pass, and the specific compliance requirements if they do pass.
2. Does it Apply to You? Not all sick time laws affect every employer equally. Some requirements vary based on the size and industry of the employer.
3. Differing Regulations. Every location handles paid sick leave differently, and keeping track them places a large administrative burden on you. Some of the regulations that can vary include: effective accrual date, the rate of accrual, the maximum accrual, the maximum usage, the end-of-year carryover, and the rehire provisions and policies.
4. One Law Trumps Another. In some cases, a location may have PSL laws at both the state and local level. For example, San Francisco, CA has a city-specific PSL law, but it is also covered on the state level within the California paid sick leave law. In this situation, the employer must provide whichever provision or benefit is more generous to the employee.
5. Posting Requirements. Locations with PSL laws require you, as the employer of record, to post a notification informing employees of their PSL entitlements. In most cases the employer must create their own notices for the employees.
6. Record-keeping. You will have to track accruals closely and provide employees access to updated records indicating what they have earned and may use. The record-keeping and retention requirements may vary a great deal from law to law.
7. Rehire Provisions. The guidelines for rehire provisions vary, but they generally state that if an employee is rehired within a certain number of months, the employer must restore any accrued and unused paid sick leave. Again, this reinstatement is ­location-specific. 
8. Handling the Cost. The most common PSL accrual rate is one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked. You must consider how you will handle this added cost. Will your firm account for it up front within your own back-office pricing structure? Will you invoice the cost back to the client?