The Vermont Earned Sick Time law was enacted in March 2016. The Vermont Commissioner of Labor has issued “sick time rules” to “clarify practices and policies in the administration and enforcement” of the law. Here, I analyze the law and rules using the PSL-4Step framework.
Step 1: Does it apply?
Effective Date: January 1, 2017, except that the law does not apply to an employer with five or fewer employees who are employed for an average of no less than 30 hours per week during the previous calendar year, i.e., a small employer, until January 1, 2018. A “new employer” is not subject to the law until one year after the employer hires its first employee. The effective date of the DOL’s rules is January 15, 2017.
Employer Definition: “Employer” includes every type of business entity and any common carrier by rail, motor, water, air or express company doing business or operating with Vermont.
Employee Definition: “Employee” means any person employed by an employer for an average of at least 18 hours per week during a year. “Employee” does not include
federal employees;
state employees who are either exempt or excluded from the State classified service but not an individual that is employed by the State in a temporary capacity;
an individual under 18 years of age;
an individual employed for 20 weeks or fewer in a 12-month period in a job scheduled to last 20 weeks or fewer;
an employee who works on a per diem or intermittent basis, i.e., who works only when he or she is available to work, is under no obligation to work for the employer offering the work, and has no expectation of continuing employment with the employer;
an employee of a “health care facility” or “facility” if the employee only works on a per diem or intermittent basis;
a sole proprietor or partner owner of an unincorporated business who is excluded from the provisions of chapter 9 of this title (employer’s liability and workers compensation); or an executive officer, manager, or member of a corporation or a limited liability company for whom the Commissioner has approved an exclusion from the provisions of chapter 9 of this title;
an employee of a school district, supervisory district, or supervisory union employed pursuant to a policy on substitute educators who is under no obligation to work a regular schedule and is not under contract or written agreement to provide at least one period of long-term substitute coverage, defined as 30 or more consecutive school days in the same assignment.
Primary Place of Work: An employee whose primary place of work is in Vermont is eligible to accrue and use earned sick time (PSL) under this law, regardless of the employer’s primary location. If an employee’s primary place of work is in Vermont, all of the employee’s hours of work are counted for accrual, regardless of where the work is performed.
Step 2: The Benefit
Accrual: One hour of leave for every 52 hours worked, including overtime hours, beginning the first day of employment. An employer may impose a waiting period of up to one year before an employee can use accrued leave (for those employed on January 1, 2017, an employer may require a waiting period that ends no later than December 31, 2017). Between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018, an employer may cap use at 24 hours per annual period; this minimum cap increases to 40 hours on January 1, 2019.
NOTE: for small employers, the waiting period must end no later than December 31, 2018.
Timing of Accrual Calculation: The amount of accrued sick time shall be calculated as it accrues during each pay period or quarterly, although an employee may use earned sick time as it accrues (assuming the employee is beyond the employer’s waiting period). Continue reading →
icipality, I used voting data for the county in which it is located. Rounding percentages to the nearest whole number, here is what I found:
2016. Penalties for violations begin on January 1, 2017.
Paid Sick Leave @ Work 