§ 483. Use of earned sick time

(a) An employee may use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter for any of the following reasons:

(1) The employee is ill or injured.

(2) The employee obtains professional diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health care.

(3) The employee cares for a sick or injured parent, grandparent, spouse, child, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandchild, or foster child, including helping that individual obtain diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health treatment, or accompanying the employee's parent, grandparent, spouse, or parent-in-law to an appointment related to his or her long-term care.

(4) The employee is arranging for social or legal services or obtaining medical care or counseling for the employee or for the employee's parent, grandparent, spouse, child, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandchild, or foster child, who is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking or who is relocating as the result of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. As used in this section, "domestic violence," "sexual assault," and "stalking" shall have the same meanings as in 15 V.S.A. § 1151.

(5) The employee cares for a parent, grandparent, spouse, child, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandchild, or foster child, because the school or business where that individual is normally located during the employee's workday is closed for public health or safety reasons.

(b) If an employee's absence is shorter than a normal workday, the employee shall use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter in the smallest time increments that the employer's payroll system uses to account for other absences or that the employer's paid time off policy permits. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require an employer to permit an employee to use earned sick time in increments that are shorter than one hour.

(c) An employer may limit the amount of earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter that an employee may use to:

(1) from January 1, 2017 until December 31, 2018, no more than 24 hours in a 12-month period; and

(2) after December 31, 2018, no more than 40 hours in a 12-month period.

(d)(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 484(a) of this subchapter, earned sick time that remains unused at the end of an annual period shall be carried over to the next annual period and the employee shall continue to accrue earned sick time as provided pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter. However, nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to permit an employee to use more earned sick time during an annual period than any limit on the use of earned sick time that is established by his or her employer pursuant to subsection (c) of this section.

(2) If, at an employer's discretion, an employer pays an employee for unused earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter at the end of an annual period, then the amount for which the employee was compensated does not carry over to the next annual period.

(e) Upon separation from employment, an employee shall not be entitled to payment for unused earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter unless agreed upon by the employer.

(f)(1) An employee who is discharged by his or her employer after he or she has completed a waiting period required pursuant to subsection 482(b) of this subchapter and is subsequently rehired by the same employer within 12 months after the discharge from employment shall begin to accrue and may use earned sick time without a waiting period. However, the employee shall not be entitled to retain any earned sick time that accrued before the time of his or her discharge unless agreed to by the employer.

(2) An employee that voluntarily separates from employment after he or she has completed a waiting period required pursuant to subsection 482(b) of this subchapter and is subsequently rehired by the same employer within 12 months after the separation from employment shall not be entitled to accrue and use earned sick time without a waiting period unless agreed to by the employer.

(g) An employer shall not require an employee to find a replacement for absences, including absences for professional diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health care.

(h) An employer may require an employee planning to take earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter to:

(1) make reasonable efforts to avoid scheduling routine or preventive health care during regular work hours; or

(2) notify the employer as soon as practicable of the intent to take earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter and the expected duration of the employee's absence.

(i)(1) If an employee is absent from work for one of the reasons listed in subsection (a) of this section, the employee shall not be required to use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter and the employer will not be required to pay for the time that the employee was absent if the employer and the employee mutually agree that either:

(A) the employee will work an equivalent number of hours as the number of hours for which the employee is absent during the same pay period; or

(B) the employee will trade hours with a second employee so that the second employee works during the hours for which the employee is absent and the employee works an equivalent number of hours in place of the second employee during the same pay period.

(2) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prevent an employer from adopting a policy that requires an employee to use earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter for an absence from work for one of the reasons set forth in subsection (a) of this section.

(j) An employer shall post notice of the provisions of this section in a form provided by the Commissioner in a place conspicuous to employees at the employer's place of business. An employer shall also notify an employee of the provisions of this section at the time of the employee's hiring.

(k) An employee who uses earned sick time accrued pursuant to section 482 of this subchapter shall not diminish his or her rights under sections 472 and 472a of this title.

(l) The provisions against retaliation set forth in section 397 of this title shall apply to this subchapter.

(m) An employer who violates this subchapter shall be subject to the penalty provisions of section 345 of this title.

(n) The Commissioner shall enforce this subchapter in accordance with the procedures established in section 342a of this title. However, the appeal provision of subsection 342a(f) shall not apply to any enforcement action brought pursuant to this subsection. (Added 2015, No. 69 (Adj. Sess.), § 4, eff. Jan. 1, 2017.)