Connecticut: Paid Sick Leave Requirements
The short answer
In 2026, Connecticut's paid-sick-leave law covers employers with at least 11 employees in the state; the threshold drops to one employee on January 1, 2027. Covered employees accrue one hour per 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year, may use accrued time beginning on day 120, and may carry over up to 40 hours while annual use remains capped at 40. Leave covers employee and family health, a mental-health wellness day, public-health closures or exposure, and specified family-violence or sexual-assault needs.
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This is the general rule in Connecticut. Ezel applies current Connecticut law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and local interaction | Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 31-57r to 31-57w, expanded by P.A. 24-8. Current phase: 11+ CT employees from Jan. 1, 2026; FUTURE: 1+ from Jan. 1, 2027. The sections preserve more generous employer/CBA benefits but contain no express local sick-leave preemption or stronger-local-law clause (§ 31-57u). |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee coverage | In 2026, employer generally means a person, business, educational institution, nonprofit, corporation, LLC, or other entity with ≥11 CT employees, counted from payroll for the week containing Jan. 1; threshold becomes ≥1 in 2027. Employer excludes self-employed individuals and specified construction multiemployer-plan employers. Employee excludes specified construction-union/multiemployer-plan members and seasonal employees working ≤120 days/year (§ 31-57r). |
| Accrual and annual entitlement | Accrual begins at the applicable phase date or first day of employment, later, at 1 hour per 30 worked in 1-hour increments, maximum 40 hours/year. Use begins on calendar day 120. FLSA executive/administrative/professional exempt employee presumed 40 hours/week unless normal week is shorter (§ 31-57s(a),(b),(f)). |
| Frontloading, caps, and carryover | Up to 40 unused accrued hours carry over, but annual use may be limited to 40. Instead of carryover, employer may provide ≥40 hours available immediately at next-year start. Compliant vacation, personal-day, PTO, or unlimited-PTO policy may substitute only if usable for same purposes/conditions and accrues at least as fast (§ 31-57s(a),(c)). |
| Qualifying uses and family | Employee or family-member illness, injury, mental/physical diagnosis, care, treatment or preventive care; employee mental-health wellness day; public-health-emergency workplace or family school/care closure; qualifying communicable-illness exposure/risk determination; and family-violence or sexual-assault medical, counseling, victim-service, relocation or proceeding needs. Family: spouse/domestic partner, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild, parent/parent-in-law and a blood-or-affinity equivalent (§§ 31-57r, 31-57t). |
| Requests, notice, documentation, and increments | Accrual is stated in 1-hour increments; the sections state no separate minimum-use increment. Current law bars requiring any documentation that leave is for a permitted purpose. P.A. 24-8 deleted the former 7-day foreseeable notice, as-soon-as-practicable unforeseeable notice, and 3-day documentation provisions. No replacement worker may be required (§§ 31-57s(a),(h), 31-57t(b)). |
| Pay, payout, reinstatement, and records | Pay is greater of normal hourly wage or CT minimum wage; variable-rate worker uses average hourly wage in prior pay period. No separation payout unless policy/CBA provides it. Rehire after any break starts new accrual and restores no old balance unless employer agrees; internal transfer and successor employment preserve accrued time. Record accrued/provided and used hours, retain 3 years, allow Labor Commissioner access (§§ 31-57s(d),(g), 31-57t(d), 31-57u(c), 31-57w(c)). |
| Posting, retaliation, enforcement, and remedies | At hire give written rights notice; display English/Spanish poster, with electronic delivery/posting for no physical workplace, telework or platform work. No retaliation/discrimination for requesting/using leave or filing complaint. Labor Commissioner complaint/hearing; retaliation penalty $500/violation, other violations up to $100; relief may include paid leave, rehire/reinstatement, back wages and restored benefits. The sections specify administrative enforcement and state no separate private-action remedy (§§ 31-57v, 31-57w). |
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Requirements one by one
Eleven employees now; one employee in 2027
Connecticut expanded its paid-sick-leave law in phases. During 2026, an employer
is covered when it employs at least 11 people in Connecticut, based on payroll
for the week containing January 1. On January 1, 2027, the enacted threshold
drops to one employee. Seasonal employees who work no more than 120 days in a
year and specified construction multiemployer-plan workers are excluded.
One hour per 30 worked, up to 40 hours
Under § 31-57s, accrual begins on the applicable phase date or the employee's first day,
whichever is later, at one hour per 30 hours worked. The annual accrual and use
maximum is 40 hours, and use begins on the 120th calendar day of employment.
Up to 40 hours carry over, but an employer may instead provide at least the
required amount for immediate use at the start of the next year.
Health, family, emergency, and safety uses
Leave covers the employee's or a family member's illness, injury, diagnosis,
treatment, and preventive care, plus an employee mental-health wellness day.
It also covers specified public-health closures, a qualifying determination
that exposure to a communicable illness creates a risk to others, and listed
medical, counseling, victim-service, relocation, and court needs involving
family violence or sexual assault.
The family definition includes a spouse or domestic partner, sibling, child,
grandparent, grandchild, parent or parent-in-law, and a person related by blood
or affinity whose close association is equivalent to family.
No documentation under the current statute
P.A. 24-8 removed the former advance-notice and three-day documentation
provisions. Current § 31-57t(b) says an employer may not require any
documentation that leave is being taken for a permitted purpose. The law also
bars making an employee find a replacement worker.
Pay, separation, notice, and enforcement
Leave is paid at the greater of the employee's normal hourly wage or the state
minimum wage. A variable-rate employee uses the average hourly wage from the
prior pay period. Unused time is not paid at separation unless a policy or CBA
says otherwise, and § 31-57u provides that a rehire does not recover the old
balance unless the employer agrees.
Under § 31-57w, employers must give a written rights notice at hire and display
an English and Spanish poster; remote and platform work have an electronic alternative.
Accrued/provided and used hours must be kept for three years. Retaliation can
bring a $500 administrative penalty per violation; other violations can bring
up to $100, and the Labor Commissioner may order paid leave, reinstatement,
back wages, and restored benefits.
What trips people up
The threshold is still phasing down. The 25-employee phase was only 2025.
The current 2026 threshold is 11 Connecticut employees, and the already-enacted
one-employee threshold begins January 1, 2027.
Forty carryover hours do not create an 80-hour annual use right. The statute
permits up to 40 hours to carry into the next year but separately limits annual
use to 40 hours.
The old doctor's-note rule was deleted. Older summaries may still describe
seven days' foreseeable notice and documentation after three consecutive days.
P.A. 24-8 replaced that language with a flat prohibition on requiring
documentation for a permitted use.
Common questions
Does a ten-employee Connecticut business provide statutory paid sick leave in 2026?
Not under this law's 2026 phase. The current threshold is 11 employees in the
state. The threshold drops to one employee on January 1, 2027.
Can an employer use a general PTO policy instead?
Yes, if the paid leave may be used for the same purposes and under the same
conditions and accrues at least as fast as the statutory sick leave.
Must unused paid sick leave be cashed out?
No, unless the employer's policy or a collective bargaining agreement provides
for payment of accrued fringe benefits at termination.
Can the employer require a doctor's note?
No under the current paid-sick-leave statute. Section 31-57t(b) prohibits
requiring documentation that the leave is for a permitted statutory purpose.
Statutes and sources
- Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 31-57r and 31-57s. Phased coverage, exclusions,
accrual, annual use, carryover/frontload alternative, PTO substitution, pay,
transfers, successor employment, and replacement-worker ban. P.A. 24-8
enrolled text
(accessed July 23, 2026). - Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 31-57t and 31-57u. Permitted uses, documentation ban,
separation payout, and rehire treatment. P.A. 24-8 enrolled
text
(accessed July 23, 2026). - Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 31-57v and 31-57w. Retaliation, administrative
complaint and remedies, employee notice, poster, remote-work delivery, and
records. P.A. 24-8 enrolled
text
(accessed July 23, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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