FAQs: Connecticut Paid Sick Leave
11.25.2024
HR & Safety
Connecticut’s expanded paid sick leave mandate, enacted by the state legislature in 2024, will be implemented over three years—based on employer size—beginning Jan. 1, 2025:
- Jan. 1, 2025 for employers with 25 or more employees
- Jan. 1, 2026, for employers with 11 or more employees
- Jan. 1, 2027, for employers with one or more employees
The Connecticut Department of Labor posted online resources—including guidance, posters, and a notice template—designed to support compliance with the law.
The agency also posted two separate FAQs (see below) to address the myriad questions posed by employers struggling to understand the impact of the mandate.
FAQ: Paid Sick Leave
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CBIA IS FIGHTING TO MAKE CONNECTICUT A TOP STATE FOR BUSINESS, JOBS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. A BETTER BUSINESS CLIMATE MEANS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR EVERYONE.
The beginning date of this new sick leave – IS IT PAYDATE e.g. 1-2-2025 OR IS IT WEEK ENDING DATE 1-04-2025 PAYDTE 1-9-2025
IT SHOULD BE PAYDATES IN JAN 2025 ONLY please clarify which is appropriate
Connecticut’s new paid sick leave law takes effect on January 1, 2025. This means that paid sick leave benefits start accruing on that date for those who work for employers with 25 or more employees. The law does not cover absences that occurred in late December of 2024, even if those absences fall within a payroll period in early January 2025. Employees will accrue paid sick leave benefits based on the hours and dates that they work, not the dates on which they are paid.
For my PT employees who work only 20 hours a week, who I front loaded them 35 CT Sick Leave hours on 1/1/25, how much unused sick hours do I have to let them carryover into 2026? Or do I get rid of unused 2025 sick hours and give them 35 hours of CT Sick Leave on 1/1/26? Same question for my employee who only works 10 hours per week and I gave her 17 CT Sick Leave hours last year.
The purpose of the carryover rule is to give employees access to paid sick time early in the calendar year, when they otherwise may not have accrued enough hours to take time away from work. Since you front load the time, your employees already have access to paid time off early in the year. For this reason, you are not required to carry over any time – as long as you continue to front load paid sick leave hours each year. You could wipe out any unused 2025 sick hours and start fresh with a new bucket of 35 hours on 1/1/26. Your calculation of 35 hours is correct, since an employee who works 20 hours per week will be entitled to 35 hours of paid sick leave per year. The answer would be the same for the employee who only works 10 hours per week: as long as you’re front loading the time, you need not carry anything over.