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This guide provides essential information about Rhode Island’s Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act's earned sick and safe leave and how it applies to your business. The law applies to any employer with at least one employee in Rhode Island, including full-time, part-time, and temporary workers.
Sick and Safe Time Requirements Based on Employer Size
- Employers with 18 or more employees: up to 40 hours of paid sick and safe leave per year and a maximum usage cap of 40 hours.
- Employers with 17 or fewer employees: up to 40 hours of unpaid sick and safe leave per year and a maximum usage cap of 40 hours.
Employers have the following options for setting up their sick leave:
- Accrual method: employees accrue sick leave at a minimum rate of 1 hour for every 35 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year.
- Frontload method: provide employees 40 hours per year at the beginning of the year (frontloaded) for immediate use.
Payout and Carryover:
- Employers must carryover hours into the next year, subject to employer size or method used for granting sick leave.
- Alternative to Carryover: Employers may avoid carrying over unused earned sick time by paying out the monetary value of those unused hours to employees at the end of the year.
- Important Note: If an employer chooses to pay out unused sick time at year-end, they must still provide the employee with the full amount of sick time required by law (e.g., 40 hours) for immediate use at the beginning of the new year.
There are other requirements under the state sick leave law, which you may read more about here. Some of these requirements are also detailed further below. Employers can also read up on general sick leave best practices here.
Employee Eligibility & Use
All employees, with a few exceptions, are entitled to sick leave. Employees may use earned sick time for themselves or a family member for any of the following reasons:
- mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;
- medical care, a medical diagnosis, or treatment, as well as receiving preventative medical care services;
- place of employment has been ordered closed by a public official due to a public health emergency;
- need to care for a child whose school district has been ordered closed by a public official due to a public health emergency;
- need to isolate or quarantine when a health authority or healthcare provider has determined that their presence in the community might jeopardize the health of others because of their exposure to a communicable disease (regardless of whether they have actually contracted the disease); and
- to attend to matters relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
To fully understand the additional requirements under Rhode Island law, such as increments of use, how pay is calculated, the definition of "family member," what type of notice and documentation an employer may require, and how sick time is handled upon termination of employment, you should review the law and the resources provided at the end of this page.
Interaction with an Employer’s Existing Policies
An employer’s paid time off (PTO) plan or other type of paid leave (including sick or vacation time) can satisfy this law if, at a minimum, the plan meets the law’s requirements (e.g., accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the sick leave, etc.). Additionally, nothing prohibits an employer from providing more generous leave policies than the minimum required by the law.
Notice Requirements
Employers are required to conspicuously display this Notice to All Employees – Information Employers Must Post poster that has information regarding sick leave at their place of business, in a place that is accessible to employees.
If you set up a separate sick leave policy in Justworks as a PEO customer, we will automatically add this balance information to employees' paystubs, and it is available to your employees at any time when they log into the Justworks platform.
Limitations on Sick Leave
Permissible waiting periods to use earned leave are 90 days for new employees, 180 days for temporary employees, and 150 days for seasonal employees.
Excluding very limited circumstances, employers cannot ask the reason for expending leave and are required by law to maintain employee confidentiality.
Keep in mind that if a separated employee is rehired within 135 days of separation, the employer must reinstate any previously unused earned sick time for immediate use and accrue additional earned sick time at the rehire.
Resources & Notes
- Help Center: Sick and Safe Leave
- Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training: Sick and Safe Leave
- Mineral: Rhode Island Sick Leave*
*Be sure you’re logged into your Justworks PEO account with administrative permissions to access Mineral.
Disclaimer
This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, legal or tax advice. If you have any legal or tax questions regarding this content or related issues, then you should consult with your professional legal or tax advisor.