April 29, 2019

Do you employ workers in multiple jurisdictions?  If so, have you checked whether there are paid sick leave laws on the books in those jurisdictions?  If you have employees working in multiple jurisdictions that require employers provide employees with paid sick time, you must be sure that you are complying with each law’s unique differences.  Some of the differences among various paid sick leave laws include: the amount of time an employee must work in that jurisdiction in order to qualify to accrue paid sick leave, the amount of hours an employee may accrue for each hour worked, the annual usage and accrual caps, the amounts of carry-over from one year to the next, among several others.  There are a couple of ways you could handle these differences.  One option would be to create a separate policy for each jurisdiction and apply that policy to only those employees working in that jurisdiction.  This could become difficult from a recordkeeping and tracking standpoint, though, as you would have to use different tracking methods for different employees based on where they work.  You could also choose the most employee-friendly statute of the jurisdictions where employees work and apply that to all employees.  However, this option could give some employees a lot of paid sick leave that they would not ordinarily be entitled to.  Bottom line: no matter which option you choose, you must be sure that you are complying with each jurisdiction’s laws.  Contact the attorneys at myHRcounsel to discuss how you can be sure you are complying with the myriad paid sick leave laws throughout the country and get a legally compliant multi-jurisdiction paid sick leave policy.