Earned Sick Time

V.S.A. tit. 21, ch. 5, subch. 4B

in effect

21 V.S.A. § 481 Definitions

481. Definitions As used in this subchapter: (1) “Employer” means any individual, organization, or governmental body, partnership, association, corporation, legal representative, trustee, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy, and any common carrier by rail, motor, water, air, or express company doing business in or operating within this State. (2) “Combined time off” means a policy under which the employer provides time off from work for vacation, sickness, or personal reasons, and the employee has the option to use all of the leave for whatever purpose the employee chooses. (3) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Labor. (4) “Earned sick time” means discretionary time earned and accrued under the provisions of this subchapter and used by an employee to take time off from work for the purposes listed in subdivisions 483(a)(1)-(5) of this subchapter. (5) “Employee” means a person who, in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit, is employed by an employer for an average of no less than 18 hours per week during a year. However, the term “employee” shall not include: (A) An individual who is employed by the federal government. (B) An individual who is employed by an employer: (i) for 20 weeks or fewer in a 12-month period; and (ii) in a job scheduled to last 20 weeks or fewer. (C) An individual that is employed by the State and is exempt or excluded from the State classified service pursuant to 3 V.S.A. § 311, but not an individual that is employed by the State in a temporary capacity pursuant to 3 V.S.A. § 331. (D) An employee of a health care facility as defined in 18 V.S.A. § 9432(8) or a facility as defined in 33 V.S.A. § 7102(2) if the employee only works on a per diem or intermittent basis. (E) An employee of a school district, supervisory district, or supervisory union as defined in 16 V.S.A. § 11 that: (i) is employed pursuant to a school district or supervisory union policy on substitute educators as required by the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators Rule 5381; (ii) is under no obligation to work a regular schedule; and (iii) is not under contract or written agreement to provide at least one period of long-term substitute coverage, which is defined as 30 or more consecutive school days in the same assignment. (F) An individual who is under 18 years of age. (G) An individual that is either: (i) a sole proprietor or partner owner of an unincorporated business who is excluded from the provisions of chapter 9 of this title pursuant to subdivision 601(14)(F) of this title; or (ii) an executive officer, manager, or member of a corporation or a limited liability company for whom the Commissioner has approved an exclusion from the provisions of chapter 9 of this title pursuant to subdivision 601(14)(H) of this title. (H) An individual who: (i) works on a per diem or intermittent basis; (ii) works only when he or she indicates that he or she is available to work; (iii) is under no obligation to work for the employer offering the work; and (iv) has no expectation of continuing employment with the employer. (6) “Paid time off policy” means any policy under which the employer provides paid time off from work to the employee that includes a combination of one or more of the following: (A) annual leave; (B) combined time off; (C) vacation leave; (D) personal leave; (E) sick leave; or (F) any similar type of leave. Added 2015, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; amended 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 103, eff. July 1, 2024.

21 V.S.A. § 482 Earned sick time

482. Earned sick time (a) An employee shall accrue not less than one hour of earned sick time for every 52 hours worked. (b) An employer may require a waiting period for newly hired employees of up to one year. During this waiting period, an employee shall accrue earned sick time pursuant to this subchapter but shall not be permitted to use the earned sick time until after completing the waiting period. (c) An employer may: (1) limit the amount of earned sick time accrued pursuant to this section to a maximum of 40 hours in a 12-month period; or (2) limit to 40 hours the number of hours in each workweek for which full-time employees not subject to the overtime provisions of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act pursuant to 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(1) may accrue earned sick time pursuant to this section. (d)(1) Earned sick time shall be compensated at a rate that is equal to the greater of either: (A) the normal hourly wage rate of the employee; or (B) the minimum wage rate for an employee pursuant to section 384 of this title. (2) Group insurance benefits shall continue during an employee’s use of earned sick time at the same level and conditions that coverage would be provided as for normal work hours. The employer may require that the employee contribute to the cost of the benefits during the use of earned sick time at the existing rate of employee contribution. (e) Except as otherwise provided by subsection 484(a) of this subchapter, an employer shall calculate the amount of earned sick time that an employee has accrued pursuant to this section: (1) as it accrues during each pay period; or (2) on a quarterly basis, provided that an employee may use earned sick time as it accrues during each quarter. Added 2015, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; amended 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 104, eff. July 1, 2024; 2025, No. 18, § 30, eff. May 13, 2025.

21 V.S.A. § 483 Use of earned sick time

483. Use of earned sick time (a) An employee may use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter for any of the following reasons: (1) The employee is ill or injured. (2) The employee obtains professional diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health care. (3) The employee cares for a sick or injured parent, grandparent, spouse, child, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandchild, or foster child, including helping that individual obtain diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health treatment, or accompanying the employee’s parent, grandparent, spouse, or parent-in-law to an appointment related to that individual’s long-term care. (4) The employee is arranging for social or legal services or obtaining medical care or counseling for the employee or for the employee’s parent, grandparent, spouse, child, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandchild, or foster child, who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking or who is relocating as the result of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. As used in this section, “domestic violence,” “sexual assault,” and “stalking” shall have the same meanings as in 15 V.S.A. § 1151. (5) The employee cares for a parent, grandparent, spouse, child, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandchild, or foster child, because the school or business where that individual is normally located during the employee’s workday is closed for public health or safety reasons. (b) If an employee’s absence is shorter than a normal workday, the employee shall use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter in the smallest time increments that the employer’s payroll system uses to account for other absences or that the employer’s paid time off policy permits. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require an employer to permit an employee to use earned sick time in increments that are shorter than one hour. (c) An employer may limit the amount of earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter that an employee may use to no more than 40 hours in a 12-month period. (d)(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 484(a) of this subchapter, earned sick time that remains unused at the end of an annual period shall be carried over to the next annual period and the employee shall continue to accrue earned sick time as provided pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter. However, nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to permit an employee to use more earned sick time during an annual period than any limit on the use of earned sick time that is established by the employee’s employer pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. (2) If, at an employer’s discretion, an employer pays an employee for unused earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter at the end of an annual period, then the amount for which the employee was compensated does not carry over to the next annual period. (e) Upon separation from employment, an employee shall not be entitled to payment for unused earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter unless agreed upon by the employer. (f)(1) An employee who is discharged by the employee’s employer after completing a waiting period required pursuant to subsection 482(b) of this subchapter and is subsequently rehired by the same employer within 12 months after the discharge from employment shall begin to accrue and may use earned sick time without a waiting period. However, the employee shall not be entitled to retain any earned sick time that accrued before the time of the discharge unless agreed to by the employer. (2) An employee who voluntarily separates from employment after completing a waiting period required pursuant to subsection 482(b) of this subchapter and is subsequently rehired by the same employer within 12 months after the separation from employment shall not be entitled to accrue and use earned sick time without a waiting period unless agreed to by the employer. (g) An employer shall not require an employee to find a replacement for absences, including absences for professional diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health care. (h) An employer may require an employee planning to take earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter to: (1) make reasonable efforts to avoid scheduling routine or preventive health care during regular work hours; or (2) notify the employer as soon as practicable of the intent to take earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter and the expected duration of the employee’s absence. (i)(1) If an employee is absent from work for one of the reasons listed in subsection (a) of this section, the employee shall not be required to use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter and the employer will not be required to pay for the time that the employee was absent if the employer and the employee mutually agree that either: (A) the employee will work an equivalent number of hours as the number of hours for which the employee is absent during the same pay period; or (B) the employee will trade hours with a second employee so that the second employee works during the hours for which the employee is absent and the employee works an equivalent number of hours in place of the second employee during the same pay period. (2) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prevent an employer from adopting a policy that requires an employee to use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter for an absence from work for one of the reasons set forth in subsection (a) of this section. (j) An employer shall post notice of the provisions of this section in a form provided by the Commissioner in a place conspicuous to employees at the employer’s place of business. An employer shall also notify an employee of the provisions of this section at the time of the employee’s hiring. (k) Use of earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter shall not diminish an employee’s rights under sections 472 and 472a of this chapter. (l) The provisions against retaliation set forth in section 397 of this title shall apply to this subchapter. (m) An employer who violates this subchapter shall be subject to the penalty provisions of section 345 of this title. (n) The Commissioner shall enforce this subchapter in accordance with the procedures established in section 342a of this title. However, the appeal provision of subsection 342a(f) shall not apply to any enforcement action brought pursuant to this subsection. Added 2015, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; amended 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 105, eff. July 1, 2024.

21 V.S.A. § 484 Compliance with earned sick time requirement

484. Compliance with earned sick time requirement (a) An employer shall be in compliance with this subchapter if either of the following occurs: (1) The employer offers a paid time off policy or is a party to a collective bargaining agreement that provides the employee with paid time off from work that: (A) he or she may use for all of the reasons set forth in subsection 483(a) of this subchapter; and (B) accrues and may be used at a rate that is equal to or greater than the rate set forth in sections 482 and 483 of this subchapter. (2) The employer offers a paid time off policy or is a party to a collective bargaining agreement that provides the employee with at least the full amount of paid time off from work required pursuant to sections 482 and 483 of this subchapter at the beginning of each annual period and the employee may use it at any time during the annual period for the reasons set forth in subsection 483(a) of this subchapter. If the employer provides an employee with the full amount of paid time off at the beginning of each annual period, the paid time off shall not carry over from one annual period to the next as provided in subdivision 483(d)(1) of this subchapter. (b) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to require an employer that satisfies the requirements of subsection (a) of this section to provide additional earned sick time to an employee that chooses to use paid time off that could be used for the reasons set forth in subdivisions 483(a)(1)-(5) of this subchapter for a different purpose. (c) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to prevent an employer from providing a paid time off policy or agreeing to a collective bargaining agreement that provides a paid time off policy that is more generous than the earned sick time provided by this subchapter. (d)(1) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to diminish an employer’s obligation to comply with any collective bargaining agreement or paid time off policy that provides greater earned sick time rights than the rights provided by this subchapter. (2) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to preempt or override the terms of a collective bargaining agreement that is in effect before January 1, 2017. (e) A collective bargaining agreement or paid time off policy may not diminish the rights provided by this subchapter. Added 2015, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2017.

21 V.S.A. § 485 Severability of provisions

485. Severability of provisions If any provision of this subchapter or the application of such provision to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the remainder of the subchapter and the application of such provisions to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid shall not be affected thereby. Added 2015, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2017.

21 V.S.A. § 486 New employer exemption

486. New employer exemption (a) Notwithstanding any provision of this subchapter to the contrary, new employers shall not be subject to the provisions of this subchapter for a period of one year after the employer hires its first employee. (b) For purposes of enforcement under subsections 483(l)-(n) of this subchapter, an employer shall be presumed to be subject to the provisions of this subchapter unless the employer proves that a period of no more than one year elapsed between the date on which the employer hired its first employee and the date on which the employer is alleged to have violated the provisions of this subchapter. (c) No employer shall transfer an employee to a second employer with whom there is, at the time of the transfer, substantially common ownership, management, or control for the purposes of either employer claiming an exemption pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. Added 2015, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2017.

21 V.S.A. § 487 Rules

487. Rules The Commissioner may adopt rules to implement the provisions of this subchapter. Added 2015, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § E.400.1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017.

Source: Vermont General Assembly (legislature.vermont.gov)URL: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/chapter/21/005Fetched: 10/21/2026