With Mandatory Paid Leave Gaining Ground, Is It Time to Do Away With Your PTO and Go Back to a Sick/Vacation Time Off Program?

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia now require employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees. In addition, 27 municipalities require employees to receive paid sick leave. 

As of January 1, 2024, Minnesota implemented a new statewide earned sick and safe time law, mandating that most employers in Minnesota offer paid sick and safe leave to their employees in the state. Additionally, California raised the minimum requirement for sick leave days from 24 hours per year to 40 hours.

Do you have a Federal Contract? If so, you are required to provide paid sick leave to your employees. 

Do you have a contract with a municipality? If so, have you checked the fine print to see if the contract requires you to offer paid sick leave to your employees?

Every Law is Different

One thing to know is that every state and municipal law requiring mandatory paid sick leave is different. Trying to comply with all of them is causing much confusion. For example, Vermont requires paid sick leave to be offered after one year of service while others require it after 90 or 120 days. New York and Colorado require sick leave to be paid as it accrues. Most require you to offer paid sick leave to part-time employees.  Others require it of all employees – even those who work on an on-call basis.

Is Your PTO Plan Obsolete?

PTO or a Paid Time Off program that combined vacation and sick leave into one bucket of time off was the trend for many years. With the passage of these laws, many organizations are doing away with their PTO as many states require payment of unused PTO upon termination. However, the same states do not require payment of unused sick leave. Organizations can maintain their PTO Plans, but at what cost?

In this webinar, we will be reviewing mandatory paid sick leave laws in place now, review many of the differences, and go over how to transition from a Sick/Vacation policy to a PTO policy as well as making the transition from a PTO plan to a Sick/Vacation plan.

With the above-described legislation, changes must be made to time off policies in those areas in which you have employees. Multi-State employers need to know what the compliance requirements are. Since each state and municipality have different rules for accrual and use of sick leave, compliance is difficult.

Under the mandatory paid sick leave, abuse can become a huge problem. How will your organization deal with it?

• Gaining an understanding of the various states and municipalities mandating paid sick leave
• Understanding the good points and not-so-good points of having a Sick/Vacation and Paid Time Off (PTO) program
• Learning how to do a cost-benefit analysis to determine the best time off program for your organization.
• Learn what to look for when planning the change
• Effectively communicating change that is critical to the success of the change of your program
• Develop a plan of action to ensure all bases are covered.

• Current Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Laws in place.
• A review of pending legislation.
• A review of the different Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Requirements.
• Examples of the Quandary of Compliance
• A comparison of PTO policies vs. Sick/Vacation
• Conducting a cost-benefit analysis for both plans
• Planning for change
• Communication for the change
• Q & A session

As organizations across the United States navigate the complexities of paid leave policies, the debate over PTO versus separate sick and vacation time off programs continues to evolve. By carefully evaluating the needs and preferences of their workforce and considering the broader implications for employee health, productivity, and compliance, American organizations can determine the most effective approach to managing paid time off in today's dynamic work environment.