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Key Takeaways
ARTICLE | Top 25 States With Most Employer-Friendly Paid Leave Laws
Last month, we covered the rising popularity and prevalence of consolidated and unlimited leave policies relative to non-consolidated leave policies, which have now nearly become a minority policy among US employers.
These policy choices and changes do not occur in a vacuum, however, and can be significantly impacted by both industry and geographic norms as well as governmental rules and regulations, which can sometimes vary widely from one state, county, and municipality to another.
While data on the geographic distribution of leave policy structure can be found in our benchmarking reports, available on mployeradvisor.com, this piece will be the first in a pair of articles that will highlight major differences in the rules governing paid leave from state to state in the US, compiled from information primarily from Vacation Tracker and Paycom.
This piece will cover the 25 states that provide the most leeway for employers to determine their own policies with regard to providing employees with paid leave.
Alabama state paid leave law requires only that employers provide their employees with paid leave for jury duty if the employee provides notice of jury duty summons within one business day of receiving the summons. Further, that PTO for jury duty service must not reduce the amount of PTO an employee may have otherwise accrued, although employers are permitted to deduct the amount paid to the employee by the court from any amount the employer owes the employee.
Alaska state paid leave law requires employers to provide employees with paid voting leave in order to cast ballots in municipal, county, state, and federal primary and general elections if that employee’s shift starts earlier than 2 hours after the polls open or ends later than 1 hour before the polls close. While the employee is to be given sufficient time to enable them to vote, the employer gets to determine the hour(s) when the employee leaves work to cast their vote.
While Arkansas provides no mandatory paid leave for private employees in the state beyond what the policies and contract requirements set by the employers themselves, state law does allow public employees paid sick leave for illness, injury, and the death or illness of a close family member. Those public employees can accrue up to 30 days (depending on employee tenure) of paid sick leave every year.
Arkansas state law also requires state employers to provide paid leave for jury duty, but no similar requirement exists for private employers, although private employers are prohibited from requiring an employee to use vacation or other leave in order to fulfill their jury duty requirements.
Florida state law imposes no obligations on employers with regard to paid leave for employees.
Idaho state law entitles state employees to up to 8 weeks of paid leave following the birth or adoption of a child, but no similar requirement for private employers exists unless the private employer has adopted or contracted to provide such a policy.
Indiana state law makes no requirements for employers to provide employees with paid leave.
Iowa provides for some paid vacation leave for state employees, but there is no similar requirement for the employees of private employers.
Further, employees who do not have 3 consecutive hours off work during which time polls are open are entitled to up to 3 hours of paid leave in order to cast their votes, though employers have the right to determine which 3 hours are made available to their employees.
Kansas has no formal state laws requiring paid leave, although internal leave policies adopted by companies may be legally enforceable against employers if they rise to the level of a “promise.”
Kansas employers must, however, provide employees with up to 2 consecutive hours to vote (including employee non-working hours when the polls are open) and the timing of which the employer has the right to determine.
In Kentucky, employers are not required to offer paid leave for vacation, but if they do offer such paid leave, it is considered essentially equivalent to wages and must be dealt with accordingly - in this case meaning any unused leave of this sort must be paid out when an employee leaves the company.
Further, while Kentucky doesn’t require paid family leave to employees upon the birth of a child, if an employer does provide paid maternity/paternity leave, they must also make those provisions available to newly adoptive parents.
Mississippi state law imposes no obligations on employers with regard to paid leave for employees.
Missouri employers are required to provide 3 hours of paid voting leave if employees schedules do not already allow for 3 consecutive non-working hours when the polls are open.
Montana state law imposes no obligations on employers with regard to paid leave for employees.
New Hampshire state law imposes no obligations on employers with regard to paid leave for employees, although there is an optional paid family and medical leave insurance program that employers can opt into.
Although North Carolina state law doesn’t require employers to provide paid vacation time, if employers choose to do so and don’t specifically state as a matter of policy or contract that unused PTO will not be paid out when the employee leaves the company, then NC employers are required to make those payouts at the conclusion of employment.
While North Dakota state law doesn’t mandate PTO, employers who choose to offer it are required to pay out unused PTO upon the conclusion of employment, although there are a few exceptions. Employers are not required to pay out unused PTO if the employee does not provide at least 5 days notice prior to their departure or if an employee has been on the job for less than 1 year. Also, employers can provide written notice at the start of their employment that any unused PTO will not be paid out, in which case the employer is not required to pay out unused time.
Although Ohio employers are not required to provide paid vacation time, if they do offer paid vacation and employment policy and contracts don’t specifically make it clear that unused PTO will not be paid out when an employee leaves the company, then employers are required to pay out for unused PTO when the employ departs the organization for whatever reason.
Oklahoma employees are entitled to 2 hours of paid voting leave (and more than 2 hours if their commute to polling place and work would reasonably require it), but employees are required to provide at least 1 day notice to their employer regarding their absence.
Pennsylvania employers are not required to provide paid sick leave in general, but employers in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allegheny County are required to provide employees with paid sick leave.
In Philadelphia, employers with 10 or more employees must provide paid sick leave to employees, which accrues at a rate of 1 hour earned for every 40 hours worked up to 40 hours, which aren’t usable until the employee has been on the job for 90 days.
In Pittsburgh, employees earn 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, capped at 24 hours per year for employers with fewer than 10 employees and capped at 40 hours total for employers with 10 or more employees.
Allegheny County employers with 26 or more employees must provide them with 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, capped at 40 hours.
South Carolina state law places no paid leave requirements on employers.
South Dakota employers are required to provide any employee that doesn’t already have 2 consecutive hours off duty when the polls are open with 2 hours of paid vote leave, although the employer can set the time during which the leave is exercised.
Texas employees who notify their employer in advance and who don’t already have 2 consecutive hours off work during polling hours are entitled to a reasonable amount of paid voting leave.
Virginia state law limits paid sick leave requirements to home health care workers who work an average of 20 hours per week or 90 hours per month. Qualifying employees accrue paid sick leave at a rate of 1 hour earned for every 30 hours worked, capped at 40 hours per year and capable of being rolled over from year to year unless the sick leave was frontloaded.
West Virginia employees who don’t already have 3 consecutive hours available when they’re off duty and polls are open are entitled to 3 hours of paid voting leave so long as they provide at least 3 days notice prior to the day of the election.
Wisconsin state law imposes no obligations on employers with regard to paid leave for employees.
Wyoming employers are required to provide employees (who don’t already have 3 consecutive hours when they are not scheduled at work and polls are open) with 1 hour of paid voting leave, though the employer is allowed to pick when the employee exercises the leave and only has to pay out on the hour of wages owed if the employee actually votes.
Stay tuned for Part 2 where we'll take a look at the 25 states with more employee-friendly paid leave laws and what they are requiring from employers.
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