Sick and Paid Leave Laws Update

In our last newsletter, we reported on updates to sick leave requirements in the states of Connecticut, Missouri, and Alaska.  Sick leave requirements continue to change every few months:

Missouri’s new law repealed effective August 28, 2025:  Missouri’s sick leave law was passed by voters and became effective recently on May 1, 2025.  But, pressured by the State’s business community that the sick leave mandate (along with a minimum wage enhancement tied to inflation) is a job killer, Missouri’s governor signed a bill repealing the sick leave mandate, which will be effective on August 28, 2025.  Until further guidance becomes available from the State (FAQs here), the repeal puts employers and employees in limbo as to what happens to the sick leave accrued during the interim period.

Maine’s amendments effective September 24, 2025:  Maine’s paid leave law is unique in that it is not restricted to certain types of uses (e.g., illness or safety), but is instead like PTO, which can be used for any purpose.  But unlike PTO, Maine’s unused paid leave does not need to be paid out upon end of employment.  This law has been in effect since January 1, 2021, but a recent amendment increases the amount of paid leave that employees can accrue starting in their second year of employment.  The law already allows up to 40 hours of paid leave to be accrued and used in a year, but the amendment will allow up to 40 hours of paid leave earned in the immediately preceding year to be carried over into the current year without impacting the 40 hours that the employee can accrue in the current year.  For example, if the employee had 40 unused hours last year, he/she can carry that over into the new year and accrue another 40 hours in the current year for a total of 80 hours, but usage appears to still be limited to 40 hours per year.   The State’s FAQs are not updated yet (here) as of the time of this article, so employers should check to see if new guidance will change the amount of usage that employees are allowed per year once the accrual cap increases from 40 to 80.  There remains a 120-day waiting period before employees can use accrued paid leave hours and a poster requirement.  An updated poster was not available the time this article was prepared.  

Nebraska’s new law effective October 1, 2025:  Nebraska’s new sick leave law applies to employers with 11 or more employees.  Employers with 11 to 19 employees must provide up to 40 hours of sick leave each year, while employers with 20 or more employees must provide up to 56 hours each year.  Sick leave is accrued at the rate of 1 hour per every 30 hours worked while working in Nebraska.  Unused sick leave hours can be carried over from year to year, but in each year, the employee can only accrue and use up to 40 or 56 hours, as applicable.  Employees do not start accruing until they have worked 80 hours for the employer in Nebraska, but once accrual starts, the employee can use the sick leave hours as they accrue.  

Unused sick leave is not paid out upon end of employment. 

Employers also must provide a written notice of rights about the new law to current employees by September 15, 2025 or upon hire, whichever is later, and display a poster at the employer’s worksites in the State thereafter.  Employees must receive a statement with each regular pay period, or as an attachment to, the employee’s regular paycheck that informs of the amount of sick leave available, the amount of sick leave taken, and the amount of pay the employee has received as paid sick leave.  The State’s notice of rights is available here.  The State’s FAQs are available here.

Pittsburgh’s amendments effective January 1, 2026:  Pittsburgh’s original sick leave law became effective in March 2020, after lengthy legal challenges.  The city council recently passed amendments that will take effect on January 1, 2026.  The amendment increases the accrual rate from 1 sick leave hour per 35 hours worked to 1 sick leave hour per 30 hours worked in Pittsburgh.  Under current law, employers with 15 or more employees must allow employees to accrue and use up to 40 sick leave hours per year, and employers with 14 or less employees must allow employees to accrue and use up to 24 sick leave hours per year.  But, effective January 1, 2026, those yearly accrual and usage maximums are increased to 72 hours and 48 hours, respectively.  Carryover remains the same, which is that unused sick hours can be carried over to each new year up to the accrual cap.  The amendments eliminated the criteria that the employee must have worked at least 35 hours inside the City’s boundaries before starting to accrue sick leave, but there still remains a 90-day waiting period before employees can use accrued hours.  Also unchanged is that unused sick leave does not need to be paid out upon the end of employment.  

A notice of rights must be posted at the workplace (available here), but a new poster with the amended changes is not available at the time of the drafting of this article.  

Guidance about the revised law is available on the city’s website here.