Paid Sick Leave Laws in 2026: State and City Requirements and Accrual Tracking

There is no federal paid sick leave law for most private employers, but roughly 20 states plus Washington, D.C. now require it, along with dozens of cities and counties. Counts differ slightly between sources, depending on whether D.C. is included and how narrower laws are treated, so check the current rule for each place where you have employees.

This article explains what the state and city laws usually require, how accrual works, and how to track balances, usage and carryover accurately in 2026.

Which jurisdictions require paid sick leave

State laws include California, New York, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois, among others. Cities and counties add their own ordinances, and some are stricter than the state. If you have workers in several places, the safest approach is to apply the most generous rule in each location, or track each location separately.

Missouri's voter-approved law was repealed in 2025, which is a reminder that these laws change often. This is general information, not legal advice, so confirm current rules with your state labor department or counsel before building a policy.

Employers with locations in more than one state should also watch for laws that apply by where the employee works, not where the company is based. A remote employee in Colorado is covered by Colorado rules even if headquarters are in Texas, so the employee's work location should be recorded and kept current.

How accrual usually works

The most common model is 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 or 40 hours worked, up to an annual cap. Other laws grant a lump sum at the start of the year, which is often easier to administer. Employees typically begin accruing on the first day of employment, and some laws allow use after a short waiting period, commonly 90 days.

Take an employee who works 1,560 hours in a year under a 1-for-30 rule. The accrual is 1,560 / 30 = 52 hours, but if the state caps annual accrual at 40 hours, the employee earns 40. Exempt employees are usually treated as working 40 hours a week for accrual.

Because the count of states depends on definitions, treat any single number as an estimate. Some sources include D.C., some count only broad sick leave laws, and some include any-purpose paid leave. The count matters less than your locations: list the states and cities where you have employees and check each one.

Covered uses and who can use the leave

Most laws allow leave for the employee's own illness or injury, medical appointments and preventive care, and care of a family member. Many also cover domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, and some cover school closures or public health emergencies. Employers generally cannot demand a doctor's note for short absences, and cannot retaliate against an employee who uses leave.

Part-time, seasonal and temporary workers are often covered. Do not assume that a short-term employee has no balance, since accrual starts with the first hour worked in many places.

Verification rules also differ. Many laws allow a note only after three or more consecutive days, and some limit what the employer can ask. Never ask for a diagnosis, and store any note you receive in a confidential file, separate from the personnel record.

Carryover, caps and payout

Unused hours usually carry over to the next year, though the amount an employee can use per year may be capped. Some laws allow an employer to front-load the full amount and skip carryover. Payout at termination is generally not required for sick leave, unlike vacation in some states, but a few jurisdictions require reinstating unused hours if the employee returns within a set time.

If you have a combined PTO plan, it can satisfy a sick leave law only if it meets or exceeds the legal accrual, use and carryover rules. See PTO policy and accrual tracking for how to design a plan that does both.

Pay rate and tracking each use

Sick leave is generally paid at the employee's regular hourly rate, or at a rate that reflects the average of recent weeks for variable-pay workers, depending on the law. An employee who earns $20.00 per hour and takes 6 hours of sick leave is owed 6 x $20.00 = $120.00.

Track each request, the hours used, the reason category (without keeping medical detail), and the running balance. Pay statements in some states must show the available balance. Keep these records for the period the law requires, which can be longer than the FLSA minimums covered in FLSA timekeeping requirements.

Common mistakes to avoid

The biggest mistakes are counting protected sick leave as an attendance occurrence, requiring employees to find their own replacement, and miscalculating accrual for employees who work in more than one jurisdiction. Another is treating a PTO bank as sick leave without checking the use restrictions.

Sick leave can overlap with FMLA leave, so a single absence may be tracked under both. Our guide on FMLA leave tracking explains how to do that without double counting.

When two rules apply, such as a state law and a city ordinance, follow whichever gives the employee more. If your records are kept by location, you can apply the right accrual rate and cap to each person without manual adjustments.

Notices, posting and retaliation

Most laws require a written notice or poster and some require telling each new hire about accrual rates, use rules and the right to be free of retaliation. Keep proof that notices were given, such as a signed acknowledgment in the onboarding file.

Retaliation claims are common and easy to avoid. Do not discipline an employee for using protected leave, do not count it as an absence under a point system, and do not make an employee find coverage first. A pattern of poor reviews after a sick day is the sort of fact that makes a claim credible.

If you operate in several cities, put a one-page summary for each location in your HR files, with accrual rate, annual cap, carryover, waiting period and the date you last checked. Laws and caps are adjusted regularly, and a dated summary shows you have been paying attention.

How SimpleWorkshift Helps Track Sick Leave

SimpleWorkshift includes PTO tracking, absence tracking and a time bank, so you can record leave requests, hours used and balances in the same system that holds the time entries. Work schedules per employee make it easier to see what an absence replaces, and real-time views help managers cover shifts.

Custom reports and dashboards let you review leave by employee, team or period, which is useful when a state asks for proof. Start a 30-day free trial, with no contracts and cancel anytime, at simpleworkshift.com.