Effective October 1, 2016, employers in Montgomery County, Maryland will be required to comply with the county’s new Earned Sick and Safe Leave Law, which allows eligible employees to accrue up to 56 hours of paid leave per calendar year. The Law applies generally to all employers doing business in Montgomery County, and to their employees who regularly work more than eight hours each week. How much leave an employer must provide depends on the employer’s size. Employers with five or more employees must allow employees to accrue leave at a rate of at least one hour for every 30 hours worked in Montgomery County, capped at 56 hours in a calendar year. For employers with fewer than five employees, the cap is 32 hours in a calendar year. Regardless of the employer’s size, employees may carry over up to 56 hours of accrued but unused leave into the following calendar year, but may use up to 80 hours of paid leave per calendar year. Leave under the Law may be used for a variety of reasons, including illness of the employee or employee’s family member, closure of a school or place of business due to public health emergency, or reasons related to domestic violence or stalking. If an employee uses such leave for more than three consecutive days, employers may require reasonable documentation to verify the reason for such leave. Like most paid sick leave laws in other jurisdictions, payout of accrued but unused leave at separation of employment is not required.
Employers should carefully review the Law and their existing policies in preparation for compliance. Importantly, employers with existing PTO policies need not provide additional leave if they already comply with all of the Law’s provisions (e.g., if their policies allow employees to accrue and use leave on terms that meet the Law’s minimum requirements). Nonetheless even employers with generous PTO policies will want to ensure they comply with some of the Law’s more nuanced requirements, such as notice requirements and providing written statements of earned leave.
