CT Employers Beware: Compliance with the New Paid Sick Leave Law Requires Familiarity with the Intricacies of the Law

The expanded CT Paid Sick Leave requirements were signed into law on May 21, 2024, and were effective January 1, 2025. Since that time, the CT Department of Labor (“DOL”) published, and subsequently updated, FAQs and additional guidance on the parameters of the law.

Employers need to ensure they have reviewed the FAQ guidance and are complying not only with the accrual requirements, but the other intricacies of the law. In particular, employers need to be aware of the carryover, notice, and consent requirements.

Carryover

Under the law, if employers are not frontloading time, they have to comply with the carryover requirements. The law allows for a 40-hour accrual and carryover cap. What this means is if an employee has accrued time left at the end of the year, they can carry over up to 40 hours. If they carry over time, they must still be permitted to continue to accrue in the following year. Note that these amounts are a “floor,” and employers can be more generous in their policies.

EXAMPLE: Company X allows for up to 40 hours of accrued sick leave under its policy.  Joe has 40 hours of unused time at the end of 2025. That time will carry over to 2026, and he will continue to accrue time, up to 40 hours, in 2026. At the end of 2026, only time accrued in 2026 will carry over to 2027. Any unused time from 2025 will be forfeited unless company policy provides otherwise.

Notice

Under the law, in addition to a policy in the handbook, employers have to provide posted notice and written notice. This separate written notice must go out to ALL employees. That means employers must send this notice out to existing employees and notify new employees upon hire.

If employers have remote employees, employers must either send the poster via e-mail or publish it on a digital platform that is known and accessible to all employees.

Consent

The law requires that employers track and keep records of the hours worked and paid sick leave accrued and used for every employee. The FAQs clarify that this does not need to be done on an employee’s pay stub, but employers have to be able to provide the accrual information if requested by an employee. The FAQs further provided that if employers use third-party payroll providers to track employees’ accruals and use of paid sick leave or otherwise maintain these records electronically, employees must provide consent for electronic record keeping.

For further guidance on navigating the nuances of the law and drafting necessary policies, notices, and consents, contact Hinckley Allen’s Labor & Employment attorneys.