Earned Sick Leave Laws

About this dataset:

As an expansion of the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), many states have established an earned sick leave law. These laws require certain employers to provide their employees with paid time off from work to address the individual health needs of the employee or the employee’s family member. Studies have shown that earned sick leave can benefit both businesses and public health overall by reducing the spread of infection in the workplace and supporting access to preventive care. This is particularly so in the case of children’s health as parents with earned sick leave have a greater ability to tend to their child’s health needs. Without an earned sick leave law, many private sector employers are not required to provide paid time off to their employees. A lack of earned sick leave laws exposes workers to the risk of illness or unemployment, a risk that disproportionately impacts Black and Latinx workers.

This map presents state-level statutes and regulations that regulate earned sick leave laws in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as of January 1, 2021. Specifically, the map identifies whether earned sick leave is regulated by state law, the probationary period an employer may impose before allowing an employee to use leave, the rate of accrual, the limit an employer may place on the use and accrual of leave, and under which circumstances leave may be used by an employee.

This dataset was created as part of the Promoting Health and Cost Control in States (PHACCS) Initiative in collaboration with Trust for America’s Health and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.