HR Hotline Live: Connecticut’s New Paid Sick Leave Law

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, most Connecticut businesses with 25 or more employees will have to provide their workers with paid sick leave. Unlike current law, this requirement applies to nearly all employees—not just service workers—and manufacturers are not exempt from the rule.

Your current PTO and sick time policies may (or may not) comply with the law’s requirements. If they do not, your company risks penalties, as well as orders to pay back wages and to reinstate any terminated workers.

In many ways, the new law limits an employer’s discretion in how it manages sick leave policies. It is crucial that business owners and managers educate themselves on the law’s requirements. 

In this HR Hotline Live, CBIA HR Counsel Diane Mokriski joins Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey attorney Nick Zaino to discuss the new law, and help you understand and comply with its mandates. 

We answer frequently asked questions, like:

• Is my business exempt from the law?
• Must employees be permitted to use the paid days right away?
• Can we require doctors’ notes from employees who need sick leave? 
• Can we provide cash payments in lieu of providing sick days?
• What notices do we have to post?

NOTE: At 56:55, when Mokriski and Zaino refer to counting 121 days starting in the 2025 calendar year, this refers to the 120-workday requirement for seasonal workers, not the 120-calendar day requirement for regular workers. Regular employees are eligible to use accrued sick time 120 days after their date of hire, even if they were hired prior to the year 2025.

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HR problems or issues? Email or call CBIA’s Diane Mokriski at the HR Hotline (860.244.1900) | @HRHotline. The HR Hotline is a free service for CBIA member companies.