Major Changes to Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Effective Jan. 1

The following article was first posted on Berchem Moses PC’s Labor and Employment Law Journal. It is reposted here with permission.

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Public and private employers with at least 25 employees in Connecticut must prepare for changes to the Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Law that go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025.  

Now is the time to review and update policies to be ready for the change.

Employers with 25 to 49 employees and manufacturers become obligated to comply with this law for the first time; larger employers were already required to comply with this law, but likely need to change their policies to remain compliant.  

Broadly speaking, this law requires employers to provide paid sick leave to employees for various reasons, but is not to be confused with Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act or Connecticut Paid Leave.

Covered Employers

Employers that previously were not covered by this law are likely to be covered in the near future.  

Previously, the law only applied to employers with 50 or more employees in the state.  

Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, the threshold will be 25 or more employees in the state; one year later, the threshold drops to 11 or more employees in the state, and one year after that, it will apply to employers of even one employee in the state. (Take note, employers of a family nanny, housekeeper, or personal care attendant!)

Employee count will be determined by the employer’s payroll for the week containing Jan. 1 each year.

Employee count will be determined by the employer’s payroll for the week containing Jan. 1 each year (this previously was Oct. 1).

Further, manufacturers and certain non-profits were previously excluded from coverage; those exclusions are removed under the new legislation.  

The only stated exclusions now are employers participating in certain construction multiemployer health plans and self-employed individuals.

Covered Employees

Previously, the CPSLL applied only to “service workers,” certain categories of hourly employees.  

Now, virtually all employees will be covered, regardless of function and whether they are exempt or non-exempt.  

Seasonal employees, defined as employees working fewer than 120 days per year, are excluded.  

Day or temporary workers used to be excluded from coverage; it appears that their coverage will now be determined by whether they work fewer than 120 days per year and therefore meet the definition of a “seasonal employee.”

Leave Accrual, Access

Previously, the CPSLL provided for an accrual rate of at one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.  

The legislation changes this to one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.  

Exempt employees are presumed to work 40 hours per week unless their normal workweek is less. Of course, employers are free to be more generous.  

Employees have the right to use paid sick leave starting with the 120th calendar day of employment.

Employers may provide this benefit through accrual or a lump sum.  

Employers must allow for carryover, unless they provide a lump sum at the beginning of the next year. 

Under the existing law, new employees begin accruing paid sick leave immediately, but do not have the right to use it until they have worked at least 680 hours for the employer.  

Under the new legislation, employees have the right to use paid sick leave starting with the 120th calendar day of employment.

Expanded Leave Reasons

CPSLL allows for leave for a variety of reasons beyond actual illness of the employee.  

Previously, it allowed for leave for various reasons for the employee or the employee’s spouse or child.  

CPSLL allows for leave for a variety of reasons beyond actual illness of the employee.  

With the changes, eligible family members now include the employee’s “spouse, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild or parent of an employee or an individual related to the employee by blood or affinity whose close association the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships,” including foster, adoptive, step relations, and in-law relations.  

Covered children and grandchildren are now eligible regardless of age.

Additional reasons for leave provided by the new legislation include reasons related to public health emergency closures and for situations where the employee or family member poses a risk to other due to exposure to a communicable illness, whether or not the employee or family member has actually contracted the illness.

Employee Notice, Documentation Provisions

Provisions of the law allowing employers to require advance notice of leave when the need for leave is reasonably foreseeable and allowing employers to request documentation that the leave is taken for a permissible purpose have been removed.  

Employers are now expressly prohibited from requesting such documentation.  

These two changes are likely to cause significant headaches for employers trying to manage employee attendance—this essentially allows for last-minute callouts with no employer recourse, even if the need for the absence was known in advance.

Recordkeeping

Employers must post notices on this law in English and Spanish and must also provide written notice to each employee by Jan. 1, 2025, or the date of hire, whichever is later.

Employees must keep records on accrual and use of paid sick leave for at least three years.

Miscellaneous Provisions

Employers are permitted to provide sick leave on alternate terms, such as PTO programs, as long as employees may access the leave for all the purposes and on the same terms as provided for in this law.  

Employees retain their paid sick leave if they are transferred to another unit of the company or if their employment is assumed by a successor employer.  

The law does not grandfather in the terms of existing collective bargaining agreements, meaning unionized employers must comply with this law if applicable to them, even if they have a collective bargaining agreement with different terms.

Action Steps

Employers with at least 25 employees in Connecticut should immediately evaluate their paid sick leave or paid time off policies to determine whether they are in compliance.  

Remember that even a simple notice requirement will be problematic under this legislation, so most policies will need revisions even if they are very generous in their terms. 

Employers should work with counsel to update these policies before Jan. 1, 2025.  

Employers with 11-25 employees should prepare to take these steps by Jan. 1, 2026, and smaller employers should prepare to take these steps by Jan. 1, 2027.

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About the author: Rebecca Goldberg serves as senior counsel in the firm’s Milford office. She partners with human resources professionals and business managers to counsel them through the most challenging workplace situations, from harassment complaints to concerns about an employee’s mental or physical health.  She frequently publishes articles to help employers keep up with new Connecticut and federal laws, providing timely practical guidance.