VT Paid Sick Leave

EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2017

Rules

  • All employers with 5 or more employees EXCLUDING the owners/shareholders who
    worked over 30 hours per week are required to follow the paid sick leave laws as of
    January 1, 2017
  • All employers with fewer than 5 employees EXCLUDING the owners/shareholders
    are required to follow the paid sick leave laws as of January 1, 2018
  • Only VT Employees are eligible for the paid sick leave
  • Employees must be at least 18 YEARS OF AGE to qualify for this benefit
  • Employee must work more than 20 weeks to qualify for this benefit however earned
    time starts on the date of hire or January 1, 2017 whichever is first
  • Employees must work an average of 18 hours or more per week to qualify – this
    would be calculated on a quarterly basis if needed (hours worked in the quarter
    divided by 13 weeks)
  • Owners may exempt themselves
  • Paid sick hours are accrued at a MINIMUM of 1 hour for every 52 hours worked or a
    percentage of 0.0193 per hour worked
  • There is an annual MINIMUM cap of 24 hours for 2017 and 2018
  • There is an annual MINIMUM cap of 40 hours for 2019 and beyond
  • Employees will earn paid time off on all their hours regardless of paid time off, paid
    sick hours, vacation hours, hours worked – ALL HOURS COUNT toward accrual
  • Salaried employees are presumed to work 40 hours per week and accrue hours
    based on 40 hours per week
  • The sick hours cannot expire and can be rolled forward to the following year –
    HOWEVER you can still mandate that they are only allowed to use 24 hours or 40
    hours respectively depending on the year
  • As an employer, you can choose to pay out unused sick time at year end
  • If an employee voluntarily quits, they FORFEIT their sick time, unless the employer
    chooses to pay out
  • Hourly Employees are paid their regular hourly wage for sick time
  • Commission and Tipped based employees are paid minimum wage at a MINIMUM
  • Salaried employees are paid their hourly equivalent based on 40 hours per week
  • Employers can mandate that paid time off not be used for ONE YEAR from the date
    of hire
  • Employees currently employed will have an anniversary date for paid sick leave of
    January 1st each year
  • Employers can require proof of absence from the employee if they wish to use the
    sick time
  • Sick time can be used to care for themselves or close relative (spouse, in‐laws,
    parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, grandparents, foster children)
  • IF EMPLOYERS ALREADY HAVE A SICK POLICY OR PTO/VACATION POLICY IN
    PLACE THAT IS GREATER THAN THE MANDATE ‐ YOU CAN KEEP YOUR CURRENT
    BENEFIT STRUCTURE
  • EMPLOYERS MUST KEEP RECORDS OF SICK TIME ACCRUAL UNDER BOTH THIS
    MANDATE OR THEIR CURRENT BENEFIT – RECORDS MUST BE KEPT FOR 3 YEARS