Connecticut Sick Leave Law—How To Get Paid Time Off

Since there is no permanent federal law regarding paid sick leave, employees throughout the U.S. have to rely on local and state laws to avoid being forced to work sick.

Only a handful of states have sick leave laws in place, and Connecticut was the first to enact one.

In this article, we’ll go over the Connecticut sick leave law and also show you:

1. How to get paid time off for Coronavirus
2. What to do if Connecticut paid sick leave rules don’t apply to you
3. How to use DoNotPay to call in sick

How Connecticut Sick Leave Law Works

The Constitution State requires employers to offer paid sick leave to all part- and full-time employees, but the law applies only to service workers. The law defines 68 occupations as service workers, including:

• Food service managers
• Social workers
• Medical and health service managers
• Librarians
• Nurses and therapists
• Janitors
• Receptionists

According to Connecticut paid sick leave law, there is a list of reasons for which you can request paid leave, as well as a list of companies exempt from the law, as shown in the table below:

CT Labor Laws—Sick Time Accrual

Employees accrue one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked. The maximum allowed within a year is 40 paid sick leave hours. Employees can carry over the unused days, but the cap remains the same.

Paid Time Off for Coronavirus

The federal government has introduced the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA)—a temporary paid sick leave act in force during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EPSLA provides you with ten workdays of paid sick leave if you:

• Have to go to quarantine
• Feel the symptoms of Coronavirus
• Feel symptoms similar to Coronavirus

What if the Law Doesn’t Apply to You?

If you’re not a service worker and don’t have Coronavirus, you can only get paid sick leave if your employer offers it as a benefit. If not, you have only the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to turn to.

The FMLA is a federal-level act that offers unpaid sick leave of 12 weeks within 12 months to employees who work in a company of at least 50 staff members. Many employees face the choice between a lighter paycheck and being sick at work.

Get Paid Sick Leave the Easy Way—Use DoNotPay

Regardless of which law you base your sick leave on, you’ll have to request it, either in writing or verbally. If you’re not sure how to go about making a request, you can rely on DoNotPay’s help.

Our Request Sick Leave feature will look into the laws available to you and draft a rock-solid request letter based on the information you provide. All you need to do is sign up for DoNotPay and:

1. Open the Request Sick Leave product
2. Enter the state the company is in
3. Answer a few questions about the company
4. Insert the dates on which you’ll be absent from work
5. Choose whether you want us to:
   1. Send the request to your employer directly
   2. Share it with you so you can email it on your own

The employer may still deny your request, regardless of the law that they have to follow. If this occurs, you can protect your rights and send demand letters to them with the help of our Small Claims Court product.

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