Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Notice

Beginning July 1, 2015, workplaces in Massachusetts must display the new Earned Sick Time notice, which informs employees about their right to earn and to take sick leave.

Feel a summer cold coming on? Whether you’re waiting tables at Russell House Tavern in Cambridge, selling tarot decks in Salem, or running a lobstering tour in Gloucester, you’re due for some sick time, and your workplace needs to display another labor law poster.

According to GovDocs Compliance Research Counsel, Anne Jakala, Esq., the regulations accompanying the law require all employers to post a notice of the law.

“This posting has just been released, and all employers in Massachusetts are required to post this notice in a conspicuous place,” she said.

Voters in Massachusetts approved the earned sick time law in November 2014.

What is the Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law?

All employees in Massachusetts begin earning sick time on their first day of work and may begin using earned sick time 90 days after starting work – and that includes full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees.

If an employer has 11 or more employees, sick time must be paid. For employers with 10 or fewer workers, sick time may be unpaid.

Employees earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours they work, and they can earn and use up to 40 hours per year. Up to 40 hours of unused sick time can carry over for each worker annually. The smallest amount of sick time an employee can take is one hour.

This Employment Law News blog is intended for market awareness only, it is not to be used for legal advice or counsel.