Paid Leave Laws by State and Municipality

Author: Brightmine Editorial Team

Many states and some localities require various types of paid leave. The following chart provides a brief overview of the major paid leave requirements in each jurisdiction and of the employers to which they apply. For purposes of this chart, paid leave is considered leave for which employers must compensate employees. The following types of leave laws are not covered in this chart:

• Laws that require unpaid leave, but may result in paid leave because the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay many overtime-exempt employees their full salary for any workweek in which they take leave and perform any actual work;
• Laws that do not create a separate paid leave entitlement but instead allow or require employees to use other forms of paid leave (e.g., paid time off or accrued paid sick leave) or other benefits (i.e., temporary disability benefits) to cover the absence;
• Laws that require employers to maintain employees' health care benefits or other benefits of employment during the leave period but do not require employers to pay employees for the absence; or
• Laws that allow covered employers to choose whether to provide paid or unpaid leave (which may depend on the employer's specific circumstances).

Jurisdictions that require some form of leave, but not paid leave, are marked as "N/A (unpaid only)."

Similar to Leave Laws by State and Municipality, this chart does not include:

• Workers' compensation laws;
• Laws under which leave may be required as an accommodation (e.g., laws related to pregnancy, disability, religion, domestic violence);
• Laws that require leave based on another type of leave type being offered (e.g., leave for adoptive parents is required if leave for biological parents is offered); or
• Laws covering only state/public employees or public contractors/subcontractors (such as the Executive Order requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to provide paid sick leave).

The chart includes the states and major localities that have passed paid sick and safe leave laws. For more information on state and local paid sick and safe leave laws, see Paid Sick Leave by State and Municipality.

Also included on this chart are paid family leave laws, some of which provide leave and reinstatement rights, while others provide only wage replacement benefits when an employee takes leave for a qualifying reason. For more information on state and local paid family leave laws, see Paid Family Leave Requirements by State and Municipality.

In addition, the chart includes paid leave for any reason laws, which require employers to provide employees with general paid time off for any reason, subject to some limitations.