As Connecticut employers of a certain size know, Connecticut implemented Paid Sick Leave recently which affords employees up to five days off a year.   Now, federal contractors (including those in Connecticut) have another layer to deal with. As my colleague Ashley Marshall explains below, paid sick leave will now be a requirement later this year.  Thanks too to my partner Gary Starr who helped pull this together today on short notice.

marshall If we travel back in time to September 2015, President Obama signed Executive Order 13706 (EO) which established a mandate on federal contractors to give their employees up to 56 hours (7 days) of paid sick leave each year.

Today, the Secretary of Labor has issued regulations to implement President Obama’s Executive Order that established a mandate on federal contractors to give their employees up to 56 hours (7 days) of paid sick leave each year.  The regulation goes into effect on November 29, 2016.

Here are some of the highlights:

  1. The Final Rule covers new contracts and replacements for expiring contracts with the fdoctorederal government that result from solicitations on or after January 1, 2017.
  2. Employees will accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked on or in connection with a covered federal contract.
  3. Paid sick leave is capped at 56 hours (7 days) in a year.
  4. Employees may use paid sick leave for their own illnesses or other health care needs, for the care of a loved one who is ill, for preventive health care for themselves or a loved one, for purposes resulting from being the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or to assist a loved one who is such a victim.
  5. The Final Rule allows for coordination with existing paid time off policies and labor agreements
  6. Employers may require that employees using paid sick leave provide certification from a health care provider of the employee’s need for leave if they use 3 or more days of leave consecutively.

A few other tidbits:

  • Whether an employee has to work a certain number of hours  for coverage depends on whether they work “on” a covered contract or “in connection” with a covered contract.
  • Employees that work “on” a covered contract are those that are performing the specific services called for by the contract. They are covered, regardless of the number of hours worked in a year and regardless of whether they are full or part time.
  • Employees that work “in connection” with a covered contract are  those that perform work activities that are necessary to the performance of the contract, but are not directly engaged in the specific services called for in the contract.  An employee who spends less than 20% of his or her hours working “in connection” with a covered contract in a particular workweek is not covered.

As with many new benefits, employees may try to take advantage of the new regulation, particularly since no medical excuse needs to be provided until the employee is out of work 3 or more days.  Employers are going to need to be vigilant against abuse.

The Final Rule will be published in the Federal Register September 30, 2016, and will go into effect exactly 60 days after its publication. More information can be found on the U.S. Department of Labor’s website in its Fact Sheet and Overview.