States Update Employee Leave Requirements for Coronavirus
In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, states passed new laws and issued new regulations and guidance about employee leave taken for COVID-19 reasons. These provisions were in addition to the now-expired federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act, passed as part of the 2020 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).
In general, employee leave permitted under new state COVID-19 rules and guidance varies with respect to factors like which employers and employees are covered by the leave, the length and purpose of the leave, whether the leave is compensated and at what rate, and whether the leave is provided under a new law or rule, or covered under an existing provision.
This Compliance Bulletin describes state employee leave provisions and guidance enacted or issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with links to government resources providing further information. Information about similar measures in select major cities is also included. The document will be updated with new developments as they occur in this rapidly changing compliance area.
As of 2023, many of these provisions have expired or are scheduled to expire.
Action Steps
Employers should monitor the websites of their state departments of labor for new laws, rules and guidance about COVID-19-related employee leave, and the sunsetting of these requirements.
Highlights
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, states enacted laws and issued new rules and guidance on employee leave needed for COVID-19.
Key features of the new laws and regulations include the length of leave, compensation for leave, and eligibility requirements for leave.
As of early 2023, many of these COVID-19 leave requirements have expired or are scheduled to expire soon.
Recommendations
Employers should stay alert to the following actions on the state level:
New employee leave laws and regulations
Changes to existing laws and rules on employee leave
Guidance on the application of existing rules and laws to COVID-19 circumstances
Expiration dates of new COVID leave laws and regulations
Arizona
The Industrial Commission of Arizona has issued FAQs explaining when employees may take earned paid sick leave for COVID-19-related purposes under the state’s Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act. Circumstances in which leave may be taken include (among others):
The employee or their family member contracting COVID-19
COVID-19 testing for the employee or their family member
Vaccination for the employee or a family member
To care for a child whose school has been closed due to COVID-19
California
California’s supplemental paid sick leave law expired Dec. 31, 2022. It required employers with more than 25 employees to provide up to 80 hours of paid leave for specific COVID-19-related reasons. The state issued FAQsabout the law and a poster for employers to use.
Guidance from the California Department of Industrial Relations about another COVID-19-related leave requirement states that employers who require COVID-19 testing or vaccination must pay for the time those procedures take because that time constitutes “hours worked.” In this situation, employers may not require workers to use paid leave.
On Nov. 30, 2020, California adopted (and later updated several times) emergency temporary Cal/OSHA standards on COVID-19 infection prevention that applied to most workers in California not covered by Cal/OSHA’s aerosol transmissible diseases standard. Effective Feb. 3, 2023, these standards have been replaced by COVID-19 Prevention Non-Emergency Regulations. Unlike the earlier emergency temporary standards, the new standards do not require employers to continue to maintain an employee’s earnings, seniority and other rights and benefits if the employee is excluded from work due to workplace exposure to COVID-19 and is otherwise able and available to work.
According to FAQs issued by the DIR, employees unable to work because of COVID-19 symptoms may be eligible for workers’ compensation or state disability insurance.
Local Laws
The following entries describe select California local leave laws enacted in response to the COVID-19 emergency. Other localities not listed here may have similar measures in effect. Employers should familiarize themselves with the leave laws that apply in their county, city or town.
Long Beach—The City of Long Beach voted to end its COVID-19 Paid Supplemental Sick Leave requirement as of Feb. 21, 2023. The mandate had imposed a paid sick leave requirement on employers with 500 or more employees nationally that were not required to provide FFCRA emergency paid sick leave. Employees were entitled to 80 hours of paid leave for specified COVID-19-related reasons. The ordinance contained pay caps and employee and employer exceptions, such as for health care worker and emergency responder employees.
Los Angeles—In December 2022, the Los Angeles City Council voted to end the COVID-19 local emergency
on Feb. 1, 2023, bringing an end to the city’s Covid supplemental paid sick leave requirement on Feb. 15, 2023.
This requirement had mandated 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave for workers who had worked at least 60 days at businesses and nonprofits with 500 or more employees in the city, or 2,000 or more employees nationwide. The city’s requirement to allow paid employee paid leave for COVID-19 vaccination and recovery has similarly expired.
Unincorporated Los Angeles County—The county’s supplemental paid sick leave requirement is scheduled to end April 14, 2023—two weeks after the expiration of the county’s local state of emergency for COVID-19.
On Jan. 26, 2021, the county amended and extended an urgency ordinance providing employees with up to 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave for specific COVID-19-related reasons. The new amended ordinance is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021, and took effect immediately. It remains in effect until two calendar weeks after the expiration of the COVID-19 local emergency (the original ordinance expired Dec. 31, 2020). The amendments expand supplemental paid sick leave to cover employees at all nongovernmental businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county (the original applied only to employers with 500 or more employees nationally). Part-time employees receive paid sick leave equal to their average two weeks’ pay. Pay is capped at $511 per day and $5,110 total.
Employers may exclude emergency responders or health care providers, as defined in the ordinance, from the leave. Leave otherwise due to an employee under the amended ordinance is reduced by any supplemental paid sick leave the employee received under the original ordinance or the FFCRA. Employees who have exhausted their leave benefits under either measure are not eligible for any additional supplemental paid sick leave under the amended ordinance.
Additionally, on May 18, 2021, the county passed an urgency ordinance requiring all private employers to provide paid leave for COVID-19 vaccination for employees in unincorporated parts of the county. The ordinance became effective immediately and is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021. Full-time employees are allowed up to four hours of paid leave per injection, while part-time employees receive a prorated amount of leave based on their work hours during the two weeks before the injection. The leave includes travel time to and from appointments and time to recover from any vaccine-related symptoms that prevent the employee from being able to work or telework. Employers may require written verification of vaccination. Notice, recordkeeping and nonretaliation provisions apply.
Workers entitled to COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave must first exhaust that leave before taking vaccination leave. However, vaccine leave must be provided in addition to state paid sick leave.
The leave requirement was originally set to expire Aug. 31, 2021, but was later extended through 14 days after the expiration of the COVID-19 local emergency as declared by the Board of Supervisors.
Oakland—Under an emergency ordinance passed Jan. 19, 2021, the Oakland City Council amended and extended its original emergency paid sick leave ordinance, which was passed May 12, 2020. The new ordinance is retroactive to Dec. 31, 2020, and it requires all employers within the city to provide their workers with emergency paid sick leave for specified COVID-19-related reasons, which include being at least 65 or at other risk of serious illness from COVID-19 exposure. The law took effect immediately upon passage. Full-time workers receive 80 hours of leave, while part-time workers are entitled to an amount of leave equal to their average work hours over a 14-day period.
Employers may take a credit toward the leave required in the ordinance for any emergency paid sick leave they provided an employee under the FFCRA or the state supplemental leave requirement. Pay caps and exemptions, including for small employers (fewer than 50 employees) and health care worker and emergency responder employees, apply.
The city issued FAQs on the expired ordinance. The paid leave requirement remains in effect through the end of the city’s declaration of COVID-19 emergency.
San Francisco— San Francisco passed an ordinance requiring public health emergency leave (PHEL) during a public health emergency as defined by the law, effective Oct. 1, 2022. Businesses with 100 or more employees worldwide must provide up to 80 hours of paid PHEL to each employee who performs work in San Francisco, with limited exceptions for certain nonprofit employers and for employees who are health care providers or emergency responders.
The city’s COVID-19 public health emergency declaration for COVID-19 ended Feb. 28, 2023.
The PHEL paid leave is in addition to any paid time off, including paid sick leave under the San Francisco Paid Sick Leave Ordinance. Beginning in 2023, employers may offset their PHEL requirement with leave provided under any federal, state or city law to address a public health threat, if the leave is allowed for the reasons set forth in the PHEL ordinance.
Employees may use PHEL when they are unable to work (or telework) due to the following:
The recommendations or requirements of an individual or general federal, state or local health order (including an order issued by the local jurisdiction in which an employee or a family member the employee is caring for resides) related to the public health emergency.
The employee, or a family member the employee is caring for, has been advised by a health care provider to isolate or quarantine.
The employee, or a family member the employee is caring for, is experiencing symptoms of and seeking a medical diagnosis for, or has received a positive medical diagnosis of, a possible infectious, contagious or communicable disease associated with the public health emergency.
The employee is caring for a family member if the school or place of care of the family member has been closed, or the care provider of the family member is unavailable, due to the public health emergency.
An Air Quality Emergency, if the employee is a member of a vulnerable population and primarily works outdoors.
The San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement has published a notice that covered employers must provide in a manner calculated to reach all employees: by posting in a conspicuous place at the workplace, and, where feasible, via electronic communication, or by posting in a conspicuous place on an employer’s web-based or app-based platform. Employers must provide the notice in English, Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, and any other language spoken by more than 5% of the San Francisco workforce. Record-keeping requirements also apply. The city has published FAQs about the ordinance.
San Jose—On Jan. 5, 2021, following the Dec. 31, 2020, expiration of its original supplemental paid sick leave ordinance, San Jose passed a new ordinance that continued, from Jan. 1, 2021, through June 30, 2021, the paid sick leave benefits that had been provided under the city’s ordinance and the FFCRA’s Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act, and added a private right of action to enforce the benefits. This ordinance has expired.
Colorado
Since Jan. 1, 2021, Colorado employers have been required to provide workers with up to 80 hours of paid public health emergency leave (PHEL) under the state’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act. The requirement was clarified in guidance and temporary emergency rules issued by the state’s Department of Labor and Employment (DLE) on Dec. 23, 2020.
The PHEL requirement mandates that, on the date a public health emergency is declared by a federal, state or local public health agency, employers provide full-time employees with enough supplemental paid leave to ensure they have a total of 80 hours of paid leave to use for specified purposes related to the emergency. Part-time employees are entitled to a lesser amount of the supplemental paid leave, and all employees may use the leave for four weeks following the end of the public health emergency.
The DLE website states that the PHEL requirement will continue to apply at least into May 2023, as a result of continuing federal and state emergency declarations.
PHEL leave is usable for a range of COVID-related needs, including:
Illness with COVID symptoms
Quarantining or isolating due to COVID exposure
COVID testing
Vaccination and side effects
Inability to work due to health conditions that may increase susceptibility or risk of COVID
COVID-related needs of family (illness, school closure, etc.).
Employers cannot require documentation from employees to show that leave is for COVID-related needs.
Employees’ unused general paid sick leave (accrued under a different portion of the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act) may be counted toward the PHEL requirement.
Previously, from July 14, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020, the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act expanded paid sick leave under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to cover Colorado employers and employees exempt from the federal law. This law had replaced the Colorado Health Emergency Leave with Pay (“HELP”) rules that had mandated paid sick leave for certain workers affected by COVID-19.
Connecticut
The state has issued FAQs on the application of various employment laws and programs—including the state’s paid sick leave and family leave requirements—to workers and businesses affected by COVID-19.
District of Columbia
Under a now-expired legal mandate, employers with between 50 and 499 employees were required to provide up to 80 hours of paid public health emergency leave through Nov. 5, 2021. The leave was available for the same reasons emergency paid sick leave was required under the FFCRA, and employees were required to have worked for their employer for at least 15 days to be eligible. The leave requirement did not apply to health care providers.
A different law that expired in October 2022—the COVID Vaccination Leave Temporary Amendment Act of 2021—added COVID-19 vaccination and vaccination recovery to the reasons for paid employee leave under the D.C. Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act. This law also required 16 weeks of unpaid COVID-19-related leave under the District’s Family and Medical Leave Act.
Illinois
In March 2021, the Illinois Department of Labor issued guidance about employee leave for COVID-19 vaccination. According to the guidance:
If an employer requires employees to be vaccinated, time taken for vaccination is likely compensable under the Illinois Minimum Wage Law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. This is true even if time spent for vaccination is not work time. Employers should combine mandatory vaccination with paid leave or other compensation.
Employers that do not require employees to be vaccinated should allow them to use sick leave, vacation time or other paid time off for that purpose. Employers that do not provide paid time off should consider offering flex time so employees may be vaccinated without having to take unpaid time, or offer the flexibility of taking unpaid time off for vaccination.
An appointment to receive a COVID-19 vaccine would qualify as a permissible medical appointment under the Illinois Employee Sick Leave Act (ESLA) if the employer allows the use of sick leave benefits for vaccinations. The ESLA requires that sick leave be allowed for certain family medical purposes on the same terms it is allowed for the employee’s own illness or injury.
Local Laws
Chicago—the city passed an ordinance banning retaliation against employees for staying home from work for certain COVID-19-related reasons, including caring for others with COVID-19. The law provides employees with a private right of action for violations, allowing damages of three times the wages the employee would have earned and attorneys’ fees, in addition to other enforcement actions. The city has issued FAQs on the ordinance, which took effect on May 20, 2020.
Another city ordinance, effective April 21, 2021, requires Chicago employers to give employees leave to receive the COVID-19 vaccine during work hours. Leave must be paid (up to four hours per dose) if vaccination is required by the employer. Otherwise, employees must be allowed to use any accrued paid leave for this purpose. Retaliation is prohibited, and violations are subject to penalty.
Both ordinances expire when the city’s public health commissioner makes a written determination that the threat to public health posed by COVID-19 has diminished to the point that the ordinances can safely be repealed.
Maryland
Enacted May 30, 2021, the Maryland Essential Workers Protection Act provides for employee leave during a catastrophic health emergency subject to an executive proclamation and related to a communicable disease, which includes the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act requires employers to provide up to 112 hours of paid public health emergency leave to each essential worker, in addition to any existing paid leave, but only if there is federal or state funding for that leave. The amount of leave due to a worker is determined by hours worked, scheduled, or expected, with full-time (40-hour-per-week) workers receiving the full 112 hours of leave.
The worker must be allowed to take this leave for the following reasons related to the communicable disease:
To isolate due to a diagnosis or symptoms;
To obtain a diagnosis, preventive care or treatment;
To care for a family member diagnosed with the disease;
By order of a public health official or health care professional because of the worker’s exposure to or symptoms of the disease, or to care for a family member who has been so ordered; or
To care for a family member whose care provider is unavailable or whose school or place of care has been closed because of the emergency.
To be an essential worker, an individual must work in an industry or sector identified by the governor or a federal or state agency as critical to remain in operation during the emergency. The worker also must:
Perform a duty or work responsibility during an emergency that cannot be performed remotely or is required to be completed at the work site; and
Provide services that the essential employer determines to be essential or critical to its operations.
Essential workers include contractors and subcontractors.
Massachusetts
From June 7, 2021, through March 15, 2022, Massachusetts employers were required to provide COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave for:
Specified coronavirus-related exposure, diagnosis, illness, treatment, isolation or quarantine of employees or their family members; and
Employees’ COVID-19 vaccination and recovery from vaccination, as well as their need to care for a family member who had received or was recovering from a COVID-19 vaccination.
Leave was also required when employees’ COVID-19 symptoms inhibited teleworking. The costs of leave were reimbursed by the state, which accepted employer requests for reimbursement until April 29, 2022.
Before the COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave law was passed, the Massachusetts attorney general issued guidance indicating that state earned sick time may be used if public health officials or health care providers requirean employee or a family member to quarantine.
Michigan
Michigan amended its COVID-19 Employment Rights Act to limit the act’s coverage to claims or causes of action that occurred before July 2, 2022. The amendments also provided an expiration date for the law of July 1, 2023.
The COVID-19 Employment Rights Act prohibited an employee who tested positive for COVID-19 or who displayed its principal symptoms from reporting to work until certain conditions were met (e.g., a negative test, a clearing of symptoms, the end of the isolation period). It also prohibited, with exceptions for specified critical workers, an employee who had had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 from reporting to work until the quarantine period ended.
The act further barred employers from discharging, disciplining, or otherwise retaliating against employees who complied with those prohibitions, opposed a violation of the act, or reported a COVID-19 health violation.
Nevada
Effective June 9, 2021, private employers in Nevada with 50 or more employees must provide employees with two consecutive hours of paid leave per dose for COVID-19 vaccination, up to a maximum of four hours. The requirement does not apply to employers that provide on-site COVID-19 vaccination clinics during work hours, or to employers in their first two years of operation. The law contains notice and recordkeeping requirements.
In addition, according to guidance from the Nevada Labor Commissioner, employees may elect to use available paid leave under the state’s paid leave law (or other applicable leave) while absent from work on a mandatory government quarantine, but employers may not require that employees use the leave for this purpose.
New Jersey
New Jersey passed legislation prohibiting employers from terminating or refusing to reinstate employees for taking time off (as instructed by a medical professional) due to COVID-19. The law remains in effect for the duration of the public health emergency and state of emergency declared by Governor Phil Murphy in Executive Order 103. Another law expanded the definition of “serious health condition” in the state’s temporary disability insurance (TDI) and family leave insurance (FLI) programs to allow benefits when a person is diagnosed with or suspected of exposure to a communicable disease, or to take care of a family member similarly affected.
The legislation also amended New Jersey’s earned sick leave law to permit the use of earned sick time for isolation or quarantine recommended or ordered by a provider or public health official as a result of suspected exposure to a communicable disease, or to care for a family member under similar isolation or quarantine. Workers may additionally use earned sick time for COVID-19 vaccination, including travel to the appointment and vaccination recovery, according to a memo issued by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DLWD). The memo notes that in most cases, employers are not permitted to require documentation for one or two sick days in a row; however, employers may require up to seven days’ notice for a scheduled appointment. Separate informationfrom the DLWD states that an employee’s child’s mandatory remote learning, or a school or childcare closure for cleaning or other coronavirus preparation would be considered an allowable use of earned sick time.
An additional law enacted on April 14, 2020, expanded the state’s Family Leave Act to allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off to care for a family member as a result of an epidemic of a communicable disease, or efforts to prevent spread of a communicable disease. The job-protected leave also applies to employees requiring leave to provide care or treatment for their child if the child's school or place of care is closed in response to a public health emergency.
The DLWD has developed printable guides outlining COVID-19-related benefits for New Jersey employees. These guides explain the applicability of benefits like earned sick leave, unemployment insurance, temporary disability and family leave insurance, and workers’ compensation in various COVID-19-related situations.
New York
New York state enacted a law providing leave for employees subject to a quarantine or isolation order due to COVID-19, effective March 18, 2020. Whether and how much employee compensation is required during the leave depends on the size and net income of the employer, as follows:
$1 million or less, and up to 10 employees: Unpaid leave through the end of the quarantine or isolation. (Employees are eligible for paid family leave and disability benefits.)
More than $1 million, and up to 10 employees: Leave through the end of the quarantine or isolation, at least five days of which must be paid. (After five days, employees are eligible for paid family leave and disability benefits.)
Between 11 and 99 employees: Leave through the end of the quarantine or isolation, five days of which must be paid. (After five days, employees are eligible for paid family leave and disability benefits.)
100 or more employees: 14 days of paid sick leave during quarantine or isolation.
Public employers: 14 days of paid sick leave during quarantine or isolation.
The law also allows paid family leave for employees to care for children under a quarantine or isolation order. Employees eligible for federal COVID-19-related leave may take state leave only to the extent that it exceeds the federal leave. Exceptions to the leave requirement apply for asymptomatic or undiagnosed employees who can work virtually, and for employees who traveled to affected regions (including states on New York’s travel advisory) for non-work purposes.
Sick leave under this law is in addition to and separate from leave under the state’s regular paid sick leave law, which took effect in January 2021. The New York Department of Health has created forms employees can use for sworn affirmations that they or their child were subject to isolation or quarantine.
According to guidance on the law from the New York Department of Labor, employees may not report to work and must be given paid leave for repeat periods of isolation or quarantine if:
They test positive for COVID-19 after returning to work following isolation or quarantine; or
They continue to test positive for COVID-19 after isolation or quarantine ends.
However, the guidance states that except for nursing home workers, it is not recommended that employees be tested to discontinue quarantine or isolation. Leave is limited to three periods of isolation or quarantine, and the second two periods must be based on a positive COVID-19 test. (On April 22, 2021, the New York Department of Health issued updated “Protocols for Personnel in Healthcare and Other Direct Care Settings to Return to Work Following COVID-19 Exposure – Including Quarantine and Furlough Requirements for Different Healthcare Settings.”)
In addition, the guidance states that employees not under a quarantine or isolation order, whose employers nonetheless bar them from work due to COVID-19 exposure (or possible exposure), must be paid their regular rate until they return to work or enter quarantine or isolation. Notably, the COVID-19 leave law itself says leave is required only for employees who are under a quarantine or isolation order.
The state’s earlier FAQs on the law remain valid. For further information, contact the New York Department of Labor.
New York also passed a law requiring that employees receive a sufficient period of paid leave to be vaccinated for COVID-19, up to four hours per vaccine injection. The law applies to all private employers and specified public employers. Employees must be paid their regular rate of pay during the leave, and the leave may not be counted against any other leave to which the employee is entitled, including paid sick leave required by state law. The law took effect March 12, 2021, and expires Dec. 31, 2023 (extended from an earlier expiration date of Dec. 31, 2022). The New York Department of Labor has issued FAQs about the law.
Guidance from the New York Department of Labor states that workers may take leave under the state’s paid sick leave law to recover from COVID-19 vaccination side effects.
Oregon
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries issued a temporary rule, later made permanent, clarifying that Oregon family leave covers an employee’s absence to care for their child whose school or place of care has been closed in conjunction with a statewide public health emergency. Additional rules provide clarifications to the terms “child care provider” (includes unpaid and unlicensed providers such as grandparents and neighbors), “place of care” (includes homes and other locations not solely dedicated to child care) and “closure” of schools and child care. The rules also permit intermittent leave for intermittent school and child care closures, and explain what kind of verification for leave may be required.
Oregon has also issued guidance on the use of sick time (which may be used for public health school closures) and family and medical leave in the context of COVID-19.
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia—The City of Philadelphia enacted a new COVID-19 leave law that took effect March 9, 2022, and expires Dec. 31, 2023. The law covers employers with at least 25 employees and employees who:
Work in Philadelphia;
Normally work in Philadelphia but currently telework from any other location as a result of COVID-19; or
Work from multiple locations or from mobile locations, provided that 51% or more of their time is in Philadelphia.
Leave must be provided immediately; there is no waiting period or accrual requirement.
Leave must be allowed for specified COVID-19 reasons relating to an employee’s (or their family members’) exposure to, symptoms of or diagnosis with COVID-19. Leave must also be permitted to care for a child whose school or child care is unavailable due to COVID-19 precautions, and for employees’ COVID-19 vaccination and recovery.
Employees who work 40 or more hours weekly must be given at least 40 hours of leave. Workers who work less than 40 hours per week must receive an amount of leave at least equal to their average scheduled or actual hours for a seven-day period (whichever is greater). Variable-hours employees receive a leave amount equal to the average number of daily hours the employee was scheduled to work over the past 90 days (including hours for which the employee took leave of any type), multiplied by seven.
COVID-19 paid leave under the COVID-19 leave law is in addition to all other paid leave benefits offered by an employer, and it may not be reduced by the amount of any paid leave an employee received previously. However, employer policies that provide an equal amount of additional paid time specifically for COVID-19 as the COVID-19 leave law requires, or 120 hours of paid time off in 2022 that can be used for the COVID-19 reasons required by the law, will satisfy the requirement. For employers that operate on a 7.5-hour workday and who consider 37.5 hours per week to be full-time, the 120-hour requirement is reduced to 112.5 hours.
Employees who complete the majority of their work through telework are not entitled to additional leaveif they receive at least 80 hours of paid leave in 2022, as long as that leave may be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as under the new law.
Employers must provide notice of the law 15 days after its enactment.
The Philadelphia Department of Labor has published regulations clarifying when different types of employee leave mandated by the city may be used for COVID-19 purposes.
The city’s previous COVID-19 leave law expired in June 2021.
Pittsburgh— Pittsburgh’s second ordinance requiring paid employee leave for COVID-19-related reasons was scheduled to expire in July 2022.
The ordinance required employers with 50 or more employees to provide up to 80 hours of paid sick time for specific COVID-19 reasons (relating to the employee’s own or a family member’s illness, exposure or vaccination) that prevent them from working or teleworking. The ordinance covered employees who had been employed by the employer for 90 days and:
Worked within Pittsburgh after July 29, 2021;
Normally worked within Pittsburgh but were currently teleworking from any other location as a result of COVID-19; or
Worked from multiple locations or from mobile locations, if 51% or more of the employee’s time was spent within Pittsburgh.
Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training is waiving certain eligibility requirements for individuals filing COVID-19-related claims under the state’s temporary disability insurance and temporary caregiver insurance programs. The Division has developed a fact sheet with further information.
Washington
Washington state paid family and medical leave (PFML) imposes an eligibility requirement of 820 hours worked in either the first four of the last five calendar quarters or the last four completed calendar quarters preceding the application for leave. A temporary grant program allowed workers who did not meet the hours-worked requirement to receive a pandemic leave assistance employee grant for the benefit. To be eligible, the worker’s PFML claim must have had a start date between 2021 and March 31, 2022, and the worker must have:
Worked 820 hours during the first through fourth quarters of 2019; or
Worked 820 hours during the second through fourth quarters of 2019 and first quarter of 2020.
Other requirements applied.
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries has also published Q&As about the use of leave under the state’s paid sick leave laws for coronavirus-related reasons.
A now-expired law prohibited production employers from operating between Aug. 18, 2020, and Nov. 13, 2020, unless they provided employees not covered by FFCRA leave with emergency supplemental paid sick leave.
Local Laws
Seattle—The city passed an ordinance requiring food delivery network companies and transportation network companies to provide gig workers working in Seattle with paid sick and paid safe time during the COVID-19 emergency. Certain requirements of this law were suspended Nov. 1, 2022, as a result of the end of the state and city states of emergency for COVID-19.
However, gig workers are entitled to accrue and use paid sick and paid safe time under the ordinance until April 30, 2023. In addition, covered hiring entities must provide a notice of rights for a period of three years through Oct. 31, 2025. Gig workers may file complaints through Oct. 31, 2025, that employers violated the law while it was in effect.
As of Jan. 1, 2023, the ordinance no longer applies to transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft due to a new state law establishing driver protections, including the right to sick leave. The right to sick leave under the new law took effect Jan. 1, 2023.
The original COVID-19 leave ordinance went into effect July 12, 2020, and covered employers with at least 250 gig workers worldwide. It mandated at least one day of earned sick and safe time for every 30 days worked in Seattle.