Sick Leave: Rules and Best Practices

Did you know sick leave can help your company attract talent? That said, paid sick leave isn’t always optional — in some states, the law requires you to provide a certain amount of paid sick leave for all employees.

There are broad similarities in state laws, though they differ in terms of minimum sick time accrual and how employees can use sick leave. Component elements in sick leave laws determine how much sick leave can carry over from one year to the next as well.

Many states offer temporary or permanent exemptions to accommodate specific industries or help businesses ease into sick leave programs. If the exemption applies to your company, knowing that it exists will save you money in the long run.

Some states allow employees to use sick leave to take care of their family members, while other states limit the use of sick leave to the employee, their spouse or their children. Still, there are states in which employees can donate their paid sick time to others.

Generally speaking, paid sick time applies to coming down with illnesses, attending medical appointments and recovering from a sickness. That said, when establishing your company’s sick leave policy, start with understanding how much sick time your employees are entitled to by law.

From there, you can start to customize your policy. For context, employees usually accrue an hour of sick leave after working a certain number of hours, though they typically cannot take sick leave immediately. Most sick time laws enforce a waiting period that begins on the day employees start working for the company.

How can you make your own policy better?

Look at what’s standard among other businesses — pay attention to what’s working elsewhere, and then make your sick leave policy even better. Maybe that means offering more sick time or allowing employees to roll over sick time so that it accumulates.
- Let your employees bank sick time so they can use it for more life events and any emergencies that arise.
- Allow your more tenured employees to take a sabbatical to prevent them from burning out.
- Let your employees feel safe to plan for upcoming sick time if something comes up.
- Give your employees the freedom to accrue sick time and decide how they’ll use it.
Automate your sick time management process rather than handling it manually — managing absences and pay can be difficult if you’re operating manually.
- Check out services that track working hours, time off and sick leave.
- Find a service provider with time-tracking solutions to streamline your business.
Encourage employees to use sick leave — communicate that they shouldn’t feel obligated to work when they’re sick.
- Employees can often feel guilty when they think about taking sick leave. In turn, they might come to work anyway, exposing others to germs and leading to more people who have to take sick leave as a result.
- Let employees know they have time for sick leave, and tell them they should use it when they’re too sick to work — no need to feel guilty.
Allow employees to do what’s best for them — if a sick employee can perform job functions from home while keeping clear of other employees in good health, let them do that.
- Shift policies to make room for unexpected circumstances. This will help your employees feel less anxious and more appreciated.
Make your policy easy to understand — keep the policy clear, detailed and fair.
- Clearly communicate your employees’ job duties and what they’re required to do.
- Be flexible with your sick leave policy.
Consider half sick days — sometimes, employees are stricken with an illness while in the office or on a jobsite, meaning they need to leave work early.
- This dynamic gives workers the option of not having to burn a full sick day if they are only ill for part of the workday.
- A strong yet flexible policy will be appreciated by your team.

Think broadly

Create a sick leave policy that strikes a balance between empathy and legality. Allow accommodation when appropriate.

Most employees have a valid reason for needing to use their sick leave, but there may be significant emotional stress that goes along with bringing it up with their employers. A solid sick leave policy will encourage them to only use their sick leave as needed because there’s trust built into the policy.

It’s in everyone’s best interests to know the communication process and how to access valuable resources. Help employees take well-informed steps through a clear sick leave process. That way, they’ll know who to contact when they need to prioritize their health.