Here are HR legal and compliance issues you need to know:

**********************************************************

New Jersey (NJ) has now become the 10th state to provide 

Paid Sick Leave to all employees.

*********************************************************

If your state is not listed above, just wait a few months because there are pending laws working their way through numerous state legislatures, not to mention such laws being considered by counties and cities.

It seems that every elected official is jumping on the bandwagon to provide Paid Sick Leave.

Here are some of the major aspects that are part of a paid sick leave law:

#1 All companies are required to provide Paid Sick Leave. In a few areas, small employers, as defined by each law, are either exempted from the legislation or as in Philadelphia, a small company (<10 employees) must accrue time and provide it as unpaid time off.

#2 There is an accrual methodology such as 1 hour of sick time for every 30 or 40 hours of work, which now covers all part-time employees as well.

#3 There is maximum accrual amount that is either allowed to be carried over to the next year or to be front-end loaded at the start of each year if not carried over.

#4 The maximum accrued amount is usually capped at 40 hours.

#5 The laws certainly cover an employee’s illness. However many of them expand the coverage to family members that are victims of domestic or sexual violence, a child’s school related event, and other areas that make Sick Leave sound more like Vacation time.

#6 Typically, these laws do not require the payment of accrued Sick Leave upon an employee’s separation of employment for any reason.Companies that maintain a Vacation Policy are now required to implement a Paid Sick Leave benefit. The “get out of jail card” that a company can play to avoid a Paid Sick Leave Law is to combine Vacation and Sick Days into a Paid Time Off (PTO) Policy.

The PTO Policy would need to provide at a minimum the requirements outlined by a Paid Sick Leave Law, but at least it avoids all the nitpicky aspects of having to identify the specific reason for taking Sick Leave such as a school meeting or a sexual abuse hearing. With PTO, the time is requested off without any need to provide a specific reason or even lie about being sick.

Dedicated To Enhancing Your HR Assets!

Warm Regards,