Risk

Test Your Knowledge on Paid Leave Laws — Pop Quiz

Hannah Beppel

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Changing laws about employer paid leave can greatly affect the way businesses manage their people. Ensuring your leave practices are based on the most up-to-date laws is crucial for compliance.

We sat down with compliance experts Tim Morris, legal compliance director, and Samantha Munro, senior counsel, to talk through some scenario-based paid leave law questions to ensure we had the right answers that would comply with the most recent updates to the law. Have you experienced any of these scenarios before, and did you handle them correctly?

Paid leave scenario 1

Assume you're an employer to whom the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies. Under FMLA, when one of your employees needs to take a leave of absence to take care of a spouse, parent or child with a serious health condition or for a serious health condition of their own, are you required to provide them with paid leave during that time?

Answer: No. Under the FMLA, you are required to provide qualifying employees with leave, but the leave is unpaid. The FMLA provides employees with qualifying reasons with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. However, just because the FMLA doesn't require you to provide paid leave doesn't mean that the state where the employee performs work doesn't require you to provide paid leave. Be sure to review the state laws applicable to the employee in question.

Paid leave scenario 2

Assume you're an employer headquartered in Florida with employees in multiple states including Alabama, Colorado, Maryland and New Jersey. One of your employees who works out of your New Jersey location is having a baby and will be taking a leave of absence. Which state laws apply to the employee, and are you required to provide paid leave for the New Jersey employee?

Answer: Even though the employer is headquartered in Florida – a state that does not provide for paid leave - the laws of the state where the employee performs work apply. In this case, New Jersey state laws apply to the employee. Since New Jersey has a state-paid leave program funded by employee payroll taxes, the employee is eligible to receive pay from the state while they are on leave.

Paid leave scenario 3

Assume you are an employer based in Arizona, and all your employees work in Arizona. One of your employees is having a minor biopsy procedure and will not be able to work for two days. Is this employee eligible for paid sick leave?

Answer: Yes. Arizona law requires employers to provide earned paid sick time to their employees. Employees in Arizona can earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work, which can be used for their own health needs or caring for a family member. This type of leave is employer-funded. Arizona does not have a state-funded leave program but does require employers to offer sick leave to employees.

Paid leave scenario 4

Assume you're an employer based in California, and your employees work in California. One of your employees is requesting to use their paid sick leave to take care of their best friend's grandmother who just had a medical procedure and needs assistance for a few days. Are you required to grant the employee paid sick leave?

Answer: Yes, if this individual is the designated person the worker has chosen. Under California law, any designated person of the worker's choice is someone the employee is allowed to use paid sick leave for. States have different legal definitions for what type of relation qualifies employees to take their paid sick leave. In California, this can be parents, children, spouses, registered domestic partners, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings and any designated person of the worker's choice.

Paid leave scenario 5

Assume you're an employer based in Alabama with a remote worker performing work in Colorado. Your Colorado employee is requesting paid sick leave for three days to get their wisdom teeth removed. When calculating their pay for those three days, are you required to figure in their discretionary bonus and overtime pay from the last pay period when calculating their regular rate of pay for their three days of sick leave?

Answer: No. Since the worker is performing work in Colorado, Colorado state paid sick leave laws apply to them, and according to Colorado law, overtime and discretionary bonuses are not figured into the regular rate of pay when calculating pay for paid sick leave.

The wrap-up

How many of these scenario questions did you answer correctly? Do you need to brush up on your leave law knowledge? You can find additional scenarios and guidance about state-specific leave laws in the on-demand webinar, Navigating the paid leave maze: Insights and strategies in a changing landscape.