In our last post we discussed vacation policies, from both the best-practices and legal standpoints. In today’s post we take a quick look at Sick Pay.
What is required by law?
Like vacation, sick pay is not required under Federal or State statutes. However, there are a number of localities passing measures requiring employers to provide sick pay to their employees. If sick leave is offered, up to 50% of the time must be permitted to care for immediate family members (“Kin Care”).
Unlike vacation, sick pay does not need to accrue or vest, and employers are not required to payout sick leave at termination. This flexibility allows them a certain level of creativity when it comes to implementing a sick pay policy.
“Use it or Lose it” Policies
Employers MAY implement a “use it or lose” policy, but need to be aware that such policies may lead to sick leave abuse. Statistics vary as to the percentage of employees who abuse sick leave, with estimates ranging from 15% to 30%. [1]
Instead of “use it or lose it” sick pay, it is recommended to roll the accrued time over to the next year, with a cap. This policy eliminates the need for an employee to call in sick, lest they lose a benefit they view as “coming to them”.
The most common sick day policies grant between 5 and 10 sick days off per year.
If you need assistance reviewing your sick, vacation, or other PTO policies, please give us a call – one of our Human Resources Consulting experts will be sure to help.
Source: [1] USB Leaders Lab, “A Cure For Sick Leave Abuse:”, August 2008.
As the tight economy continues with no foreseeable end in sight, employers are challenged to find ways to compensate, motivate and reward employees while adding minimal costs to their bottom line. As health insurance premiums continue to skyrocket, many employers are utilizing paid time off (PTO) as a recruiting tool to entice qualified applicants to join their company. PTO policies such as paid vacation, sick, holiday, and jury duty are common-place within the workforce; however, state regulations restrict how employers may implement such policies. Non-compliance with these regulations may result in wage and hour lawsuits that can be costly for employers. In the next two posts, we review some important PTO rules and guidelines.
Last month, Joshua Sable, Esq., CPEhr’s in-house General Counsel, conducted a webinar covering important changes to labor laws affecting small businesses. The “2010 Employment Law Updates” webinar covered a wide range of HR topics, including the HIRE Act, health care reform, disability discrimination, harassment claims, arbitration agreements, spying on employees, and trade secret protection.
In attempt to keep our readership up-to-date on the new HIRE Act legislation, we will periodically post new HIRE Act updates on this blog.
As details emerge regarding the health reform act, we will continue to provide updates and information on our blog.
In our previous post, we discussed the importance of maintaining accurate employee files. A myriad of state and federal agencies govern the maintenance of employee files, often with overlapping or contradictory requirements. In this post we will focus on employee benefit and health information.
