Paid sick leave laws by state used to be a niche compliance topic.
Now they decide whether your payroll passes an audit or explodes into back pay, penalties, and angry Glassdoor reviews.
There is still no single federal rule that guarantees paid sick leave for all private-sector workers in the US.
Instead, you navigate a patchwork of state sick leave laws, city mandates, and “paid leave for any reason” statutes that keep changing year after year.
In this guide, we’ll unpack the federal baseline, show how paid sick leave laws by state in 2026 differ, and give you a clear state sick leave laws chart you can turn into a living reference for HR and payroll.
Paid sick leave laws by state sit on top of a simple federal rule: there is no nationwide mandate for paid sick days, only unpaid, job-protected FMLA leave for certain situations. More than a dozen states and Washington, D.C., now require paid sick time or paid leave for any reason, while other states still rely on employer policy or local ordinances. Your job is to map where you have employees, compare state rules on accrual, caps, and eligibility, and then document one clear policy so managers stop guessing every time someone calls in sick.
Table of Contents
- What Paid Sick Leave Laws Cover
- Federal Rules: What the US Actually Requires Today
- How Paid Sick Leave Laws by State 2025 Are Evolving
- What Paid Sick Leave Laws Usually Cover
- A State Sick Leave Laws Chart You Can Actually Read
- How Many Paid Sick Days Are “Normal” in the US?
- Practical Tips for Keeping Up With New Paid Sick Leave Laws 2025
- Where to Double-Check the Law Before You Change Policy
What Paid Sick Leave Laws Cover
Paid sick leave laws by state do far more than set a headline number of days. They quietly decide who is eligible, how hours accrue, and which situations count as a legitimate reason to stay home.
Most modern laws cover your own illness or injury, plus routine medical and dental appointments. They also usually allow time off to care for a child, spouse, parent, or other close family member with a health issue.
Many states now include “safe time” so employees can use paid sick leave after domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault. That time can be used for medical care, counseling, relocation, court dates, or working with victim services rather than coming to work in crisis.
Some paid sick leave laws also kick in during public health emergencies when schools or workplaces close. In those moments, paid leave is what stops parents from having to choose between supervision for their kids and a full paycheck.
Multi-State and City Compliance in Real Life
The hard part is not reading one statute. The hard part is running a consistent policy when you have employees spread across several states and a few cities with their own sick leave ordinances.
A simple way to cope is to create one baseline policy that works everywhere, then add state and city “overlays” where the law requires more generous rules. That way you are not rewriting the entire handbook every time a new jurisdiction passes a paid sick leave law.
For example, you might treat your most protective rule as the default, then layer on extras only where local law demands it. In practice, that means your core rules are the same in Florida as in Washington, but Washington and some cities get better accrual, carryover, or safe time rights.
The goal is that line managers can answer a basic question about paid sick leave laws by state in under a minute. If they need three PDFs and a call to HR for every absence, your policy is going to fail in real life, no matter how good the legal drafting looks.
Anti-Retaliation and Manager Training
Almost every modern paid sick leave law by state comes with a strong anti-retaliation clause. In simple terms, you cannot punish someone for using sick leave they are legally entitled to.
Retaliation is not just firing someone for taking a sick day. It can also look like cutting hours, removing good shifts, blocking promotions, or giving poor performance ratings that quietly trace back to lawful sick leave use.
That is why manager training is not optional. Once a year, walk leaders through what your policy promises, what the law requires, and which comments in one-to-ones or reviews could be interpreted as punishing people for using their leave.
When managers understand that every email, schedule change, and review could later be read by a regulator or lawyer, they treat paid sick leave very differently. That mindset alone can save you from the most expensive kind of sick leave problem: a retaliation claim on top of a wage-and-hour audit.
Federal Rules: What the US Actually Requires Today
Let’s start with the blunt part.
US law does not require private employers to offer paid sick days across the board.
Instead, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for serious health conditions, family care, or certain military-related reasons.
Employees can often use their own vacation or sick bank while they are on FMLA, but the law itself does not guarantee a paycheck.
That means three things for every HR team:
You still decide:
- Whether to offer paid sick leave where state law is silent.
- How many paid sick days full-timers and part-timers receive.
- How unused sick time is handled when someone leaves.
Because there is no federal mandate for paid sick days, paid sick leave laws by state and by city do most of the heavy lifting.
How Paid Sick Leave Laws by State 2025 Are Evolving
A decade ago, you could summarize the landscape in a sentence.
Today, the answer to “Is paid sick leave mandatory in the US?” starts with “It depends where your people sit.”
As of 2025, more than a dozen states plus Washington, D.C., require some form of paid sick leave or paid leave for any reason.
You will see three main patterns:
Some states have classic paid sick leave laws, where employees accrue hours for their own illness, a family member’s illness, or “safe leave” reasons like domestic violence.
Some states now have broader paid leave for any reason laws, where employees can use hours for sickness, appointments, or simply personal needs.
Other states have no statewide mandate, but individual cities and counties have created local rules employers must follow.
When people search for new paid sick leave laws 2025, they are usually reacting to one of three triggers.
Either a new statewide law just went live, a local ordinance expanded coverage, or a ballot measure changed the rules for the next year.
Because of that tempo, you cannot set a policy once and never revisit it.
You need at least an annual check-in across the states where you operate.
What Paid Sick Leave Laws Usually Cover
Even though each statute is different, paid sick leave laws by state tend to share the same core components.
Most paid sick leave laws go far beyond a headline entitlement. They spell out exactly which workers are covered — full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal — often with a minimum hours threshold.
They also define how sick time builds up over time, for example, one hour for every 30–40 hours worked, usually with an annual cap.
On top of that, they list which situations count as legitimate use, from illness and medical appointments to caring for family or taking “safe time” related to domestic violence or stalking.
Finally, they define whether sick time is paid out at separation.
Most laws do not require cashing out unused sick leave when someone resigns, but a few states treat certain combined PTO banks differently.
For employees, that answers basic questions like “Do you have to be paid for sick leave?” and “Do you get paid out your sick leave?”
For employers, it turns into a matrix of accrual rates, eligibility thresholds, and recordkeeping expectations.
A State Sick Leave Laws Chart You Can Actually Read
The chart below is deliberately high-level.
It is not legal advice, and you should always cross-check against your counsel and current state guidance before changing policy.
Its job is simple.
Show whether each state currently has a statewide paid sick leave requirement, a paid leave for any reason law, or no broad mandate at all.
| State | Statewide paid sick / paid leave? | Quick HR note |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | No | No statewide paid sick leave; employer policy controls. |
| Alaska | No | Paid sick leave set by employer policy or contracts. |
| Arizona | Yes – paid sick leave | Statewide earned paid sick time law for most private employers. |
| Arkansas | No | No statewide mandate; state restricts local sick leave ordinances. |
| California | Yes – paid sick leave | State law plus multiple city ordinances; always check local rules. |
| Colorado | Yes – paid sick leave | Healthy Families and Workplaces Act sets statewide standards. |
| Connecticut | Yes – paid sick leave | Paid sick leave for many service workers above size thresholds. |
| Delaware | No broad mandate | Separate paid family and medical leave program; sick time is policy-driven. |
| District of Columbia | Yes – paid sick leave | Tiered paid sick days based on employer size. |
| Florida | No | No statewide Florida paid sick leave law; local mandates limited. |
| Georgia | No | State preempts local paid sick leave requirements. |
| Hawaii | No | Paid sick leave generally determined by employer policy. |
| Idaho | No | No statewide statutory paid sick leave. |
| Illinois | Yes – paid leave for any reason | Statewide paid leave law alongside Chicago and Cook County rules. |
| Indiana | No | State preempts local sick leave ordinances; employer policy applies. |
| Iowa | No | Local governments restricted from mandating paid sick leave. |
| Kansas | No | No statewide paid sick leave law. |
| Kentucky | No | Paid sick leave governed by employer policies. |
| Louisiana | No | No statewide requirement for paid sick time. |
| Maine | Yes – paid leave for any reason | Statewide earned paid leave usable as sick time. |
| Maryland | Yes – paid sick leave | Earned sick and safe leave for many employees. |
| Massachusetts | Yes – paid sick leave | Accrual-based earned sick time with employer size thresholds. |
| Michigan | Yes – paid sick leave | State law with exemptions for very small employers. |
| Minnesota | Yes – paid sick leave | Earned Sick and Safe Time law covers many workers. |
| Mississippi | No | No statewide paid sick leave; employer policy controls. |
| Missouri | No statewide paid sick leave | Watch for ballot initiatives or future legislative changes. |
| Montana | No | No broad statutory paid sick leave requirement. |
| Nebraska | Enacted – paid sick leave | Voter-approved sick leave law scheduled to phase in. |
| Nevada | Yes – paid leave for any reason | Accrued paid leave that can be used as sick time; check Nevada paid sick leave FAQ. |
| New Hampshire | No | No statewide paid sick leave statute. |
| New Jersey | Yes – paid sick leave | State law provides earned sick leave and preempts local ordinances. |
| New Mexico | Yes – paid sick leave | Healthy Workplaces Act sets statewide sick leave standards. |
| New York | Yes – paid sick leave | Statewide law plus New York City and other local rules. |
| North Carolina | No | State restricts local paid sick leave mandates. |
| North Dakota | No | Employer policy and contracts govern sick leave. |
| Ohio | No | No statewide paid sick leave requirement. |
| Oklahoma | No | Local governments cannot require paid sick leave. |
| Oregon | Yes – paid sick leave | Statewide paid sick time with size thresholds and local nuances. |
| Pennsylvania | No statewide law | Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have their own sick leave ordinances. |
| Rhode Island | Yes – paid sick leave | Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act applies. |
| South Carolina | No | No statewide paid sick leave law. |
| South Dakota | No | Paid sick leave determined by employer policy. |
| Tennessee | No | No statewide paid sick leave mandate. |
| Texas | No | Local paid sick leave ordinances have been largely blocked. |
| Utah | No | No statewide paid sick leave law. |
| Vermont | Yes – paid sick leave | Accrued paid sick time with employee eligibility rules. |
| Virginia | Limited | Paid sick leave mandate for certain home health workers. |
| Washington | Yes – paid sick leave | Statewide law plus city-level requirements in Seattle, Tacoma, SeaTac. |
| West Virginia | No | No statewide paid sick leave requirement. |
| Wisconsin | No | State restricts local paid sick leave ordinances. |
| Wyoming | No | Employer policy and contracts control sick leave. |
How Many Paid Sick Days Are “Normal” in the US?
Because there is no national rule, “normal” depends on your sector, location, and talent market.
Surveys often show a cluster around five to eight paid sick days per year for full-time employees, with pro-rata accrual for part-timers.
States with their own paid sick leave laws by state frequently mandate a maximum annual use between 24 and 56 hours.
If you compete in multiple states, it is usually simpler to:
Match or exceed the highest entitlement you face.
Apply one consistent accrual rate and cap across locations where possible.
That way, you are not tracking one bucket for Oregon, another for Nevada paid sick leave law requirements, and a third for your “legacy” headquarters policy.
Practical Tips for Keeping Up With New Paid Sick Leave Laws 2025
Every time a new state acts, your people start Googling “SHRM sick leave laws by state” or pinging payroll.
You can get ahead of that chaos with a few small habits.
First, maintain a single master policy that explains your approach in plain language, and then attach state-specific addenda for the complex jurisdictions.
Second, audit your timekeeping and payroll systems to ensure they can support different accrual rules by location.
Third, decide how you will handle remote workers who move.
A single hire in a new state can subject you to that state’s paid sick leave laws, even if most of your workforce sits somewhere else.
Where to Double-Check the Law Before You Change Policy
To summarize, whenever you update sick leave rules, you should go back to the statutory sources.
Two reliable starting points are:
For official federal guidance on sick leave and FMLA, see the U.S. Department of Labor’s resource page .
For a research snapshot of which states offer paid family and sick leave, you can review KFF’s state policy dataset .
Use those as your baseline, then confirm the specific statute text or state agency guidance for the states where you employ people.
Is paid sick leave mandatory in the US?
No. There is no single federal law that requires paid sick leave for all private-sector employees in the US.
Instead, paid sick leave laws by state and city plus your own company policy decide whether sick time is paid or unpaid.
How many paid sick days are there in the USA?
There is no fixed national number of paid sick days in the USA because federal law does not set a minimum.
Many state sick leave laws and employer policies cluster between three and ten paid sick days per year, with part-timers accruing hours more slowly.
What is statutory sick pay in the USA?
The USA does not have one nationwide “statutory sick pay” system the way some countries do.
Instead, employees rely on a mix of state paid sick leave laws, short-term disability or paid family leave programs, and whatever paid time off their employer offers.
Are US employers required to provide paid leave?
At the federal level, US employers are not required to provide paid vacation, paid holidays, or paid sick leave.
However, many states and cities now require some type of paid sick leave or paid leave for any reason, and separate rules may apply to paid family and medical leave programs.
Do you have to be paid for sick leave?
You are only guaranteed paid sick leave if a state or local law covers you or if your employer’s policy promises paid sick time.
Where there is no mandate or policy, sick days may be unpaid, or employees may have to use general PTO rather than a separate sick bank.
How do you know if you are getting paid for sick leave?
The fastest way is to check your employee handbook or intranet policy and then compare a sick day on your payslip with a normal workday.
If the hours are coded as sick or PTO but the pay rate is the same as your regular rate, you are receiving paid sick leave.
Do you get paid out your sick leave?
In most US states, employers do not have to pay out unused sick leave when someone resigns or is terminated, unless a contract or policy promises it.
Some states treat combined PTO banks differently, so HR should check local wage-payment laws before deciding how to handle sick leave balances at separation.
What are the rules around sick days?
Sick day rules depend on a mix of paid sick leave laws by state, city ordinances, and your employer’s internal policy.
Most policies spell out how sick time accrues, when you can start using it, how to report an absence, and what documentation HR may ask for after several days away.
Andrej Fedek is the creator and the one-person owner of two blogs: InterCool Studio and CareersMomentum. As an experienced marketer, he is driven by turning leads into customers with White Hat SEO techniques. Besides being a boss, he is a real team player with a great sense of equality.