Paid Sick Leave in Connecticut Still under Review
In an interesting development over the paid sick leave debate in the state of Connecticut, the “carryover” of paid sick days from one year to the next is up for discussion. Some businesses have allowed employee’s to carry over unused sick days from year to year. Many have allowed this process to accumulate, unchecked, for as long as the employee chooses to. But as insurance offerings have become more sophisticated, employers also began to realize that this could also lead to potential abuse (and a big payout at the end.). Thus, employers began to limit the amount of time that may be carried over. The new paid sick leave law recognized the potential for abuse too by only allowing service workers to carryover up to 40 hours (5 days) worth of time each year. The official labor and employment lawguidelines are stated by the CTDOL guidance here: “Service workers shall be entitled to carryover up to 40 hours of any unused accrued paid sick leave at the end of each calendar year. Service workers are limited to carry over 40 hours each year, regardless of how many hours they have accumulated. Some employers either require or provide their employees with the option of being paid out at the end of the year for any unused paid leave. Because the law provides that service workers “shall be entitled” to carry over any unused paid sick leave, employers cannot require service workers to take the pay out. However, employers may offer the option of pay out in lieu of carry over to service workers as long it is voluntary.”