Client Alert: Attorney General Issues Final Regulations under Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law

On June 19, 2015, Attorney General Maura Healey issued the final regulations (the “Regulations”) further defining the provisions of the new Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law (the “Law”). As reported in our previous Client Alert, the Law requires that all employers provide employees with a minimum of 40 hours of sick time each year. The Regulations clarify some of the issues left open under the law itself.

Whether the sick leave is paid or unpaid is determined based upon the number of employees, with employers of eleven or more employees within the prior benefit year being required to provide paid sick leave. How to “count to eleven” then was an important but unanswered question under the Law. The Regulations answer this question, providing that the “average number of employees” is calculated “by counting the number of employees, including full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary employees, on the payroll during each pay period, and dividing by the number of pay periods” in the previous benefit year. If an employer has fewer than 11 employees, the employer is obligated to provide the same 40 hours of sick time to each employee, but it need not be paid.

Download the entire report here: Client Alert – Attorney General Issues Final Regulations under Massachusetts Earned Sick Time Law