With the expansion of the Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Law (“CPSLL”) effective January 1, 2025, many of our board of education clients have reached out with questions. This FAQ is designed as a resource to guide you in complying with this law. Please reach out to us to assist with crafting appropriate policies or answering any additional questions you may have.
- Aren’t boards of education exempt from the Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Law?
With many paid leave entitlements in existence on a state and federal level, some laws have similar names. Boards of Education are exempt from Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act and Connecticut Paid Leave, but are not exempt from the CPSLL.
2. The CPSLL only applies to part-time service workers, right?
Beginning January 1, 2025, the law will apply to all employees, not only those listed as service workers. It will continue to apply to both part-time and full-time employees. The only exception is that the law does not apply to “seasonal employees,” defined as those working fewer than 120 days in a year. A “seasonal employee” may include a year-round worker who works fewer than 120 days in a year, such as a per diem substitute. However, the days must be tracked carefully so that the worker is offered these benefits upon reaching 120 days. There is no minimum number of hours worked.
3. What about our collective bargaining agreements?
A district’s collective bargaining agreements do not trump this law. If your agreement is more generous, then you will continue to provide the more generous benefit. However, you must still comply with all requirements of the CPSLL, at least for the amount of leave required under the law. For example, teachers receive 15 sick days per year by statute. A district could choose to adopt the Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Law requirements for the first 5 days (40 hours) only and continue existing protocols for the remainder of the time.
4. How is time accrued and accessed under this law?
Previously, the CPSLL provided for an accrual rate of 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. 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.
Time off can be used in one-hour increments.
5. Does the employee have to actually be sick?
The CPSLL allows for leave for a variety of reasons beyond actual illness of the employee. The reasons, listed below, include a very broad one – a mental health wellness day, which is defined as “a day during which a service worker attends to such service worker’s emotional and psychological well-being in lieu of attending a regularly scheduled shift.” There does not appear to be any meaningful limitation on the use of a mental health wellness day inasmuch as it does not limit the use of sick leave to seek mental health care (e.g., a therapy appointment) or require that the employee have a mental health condition of any kind.
An employee may use paid sick leave for his or her own:
- illness, injury or health condition;
- the medical diagnosis, care or treatment of his or her mental illness or physical illness, injury or health condition;
- preventative medical care; or
- mental health wellness day.
An employee may use paid sick leave for a family member’s:
- illness, injury or health condition;
- the medical diagnosis, care or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition; or
- preventative medical care.
An employee may use paid sick leave when either:
- the employer’s place of business or a family member’s school or place of care closes by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; or
- a health authority, the employer of the employee or the employee’s family member, or a health care provider determines that the employee or the employee’s family member poses a risk to the health of others because of exposure to a communicable disease.
An employee may use paid sick leave if the employee or the employee’s family member is a victim of family violence or sexual assault:
- for medical care or psychological or other counseling for physical or psychological injury or disability
- to obtain services from a victim services organization;
- to relocate due to such family violence or sexual assault;
- to participate in any civil or criminal proceedings related to or resulting from such family violence or sexual assault.
“Family member” means a spouse, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild, or parent of an employee, or an individual who is related to the employee by blood or by an affinity whose close association the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships.
6. What kind of notice and documentation can we require?
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.
7. Our collective bargaining agreements limit the reasons for sick time, require notice, and require documentation after a certain period of absence. What do we do?
You cannot enforce these provisions to the extent that they conflict with the law. Remember that you can impose requirements after the CPSLL time is exhausted, as that has a cap of 40 hours of accrual/usage per year.
8. What are our notice requirements?
You must post the legal notice in English (click here) and Spanish (click here) in a conspicuous place accessible by employees. You must also provide written notice to each employee by January 1, 2025, or at the time of hire, whichever is later. For remote workers, you must send the information via electronic communication or by a conspicuous posting of the information on a web-based or application-based platform.
9. What are our recordkeeping requirements?
You must track (1) the number of hours, if any, of paid sick leave accrued by or provided to the employee, and (2) the number of hours, if any, of paid sick leave used by the employee during the calendar year. Records must be retained for at least three years.