How to Calculate Paid Sick Leave Accruals by State

A line cook wakes up with a 102 degree fever an hour before his shift. He calls the general manager. Does he have paid sick time saved up? How much? A decade ago, the answer lived in an employee handbook. Today it depends on the state, and sometimes the city, where that restaurant operates.

There’s no federal law that requires private employers to offer paid sick leave. The U.S. Department of Labor is blunt about it: currently, there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave. But more than a dozen states, and a growing list of cities, have their own rules for paid sick leave accruals, each with a different rate, a different cap, and a different carryover requirement.

That patchwork is exactly where payroll and HR teams get tripped up, especially multi-location employers running crews across state lines. This guide covers the general math behind sick leave accrual, then breaks down what a handful of states actually require and where employers most often get the calculation wrong.

Last updated: August 2026.

Is There a Federal Paid Sick Leave Law?

Not for private employers. The Fair Labor Standards Act sets rules for minimum wage and overtime, but it says nothing about sick leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act is a different animal. It guarantees unpaid, job-protected leave for certain medical and family situations, and it only applies to employers with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius. Nobody has to get paid while they’re out under that law.

So where do paid sick leave requirements actually come from? States. And, in a growing number of places, cities and counties. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are currently no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave. That single fact is why the rest of this guide matters.

How Paid Sick Leave Accruals Work

Most state paid sick leave laws use the same basic structure, even when the numbers differ. An employee earns a set amount of paid sick time for every block of hours they work. The formula is straightforward: hours worked divided by the accrual rate equals hours of sick leave earned.

The two accrual rates you’ll see most often are 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, and 1 hour for every 40 hours worked. A few states allow other structures, and some employers skip accrual entirely by front-loading, meaning they grant the full annual amount on day one or at the start of each year instead of building a balance pay period by pay period.

Front-loading is easier to administer. It also removes the guesswork of tracking a running balance for every employee, every pay period.

Almost every law also sets two separate limits worth keeping straight: an accrual cap, the maximum balance an employee can bank, and a usage cap, the maximum hours an employee can actually use in a year. They aren’t always the same number, and mixing up the two is a common source of payroll errors.

A Simple Accrual Calculation Example

Here’s what the math looks like for an hourly employee working under a policy that accrues 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Some states let employers round to the nearest quarter or half hour instead of carrying decimals like 1.83 forward. Either way, the running balance always follows the same math: hours worked, divided by the accrual rate. Once an employee hits whatever annual accrual cap applies, say 48 hours in Colorado, the accrual simply stops until they use part of the balance or a new year begins.

Paid Sick Leave Requirements Vary Significantly by State

This is the part that catches multi-location employers off guard. A policy built around one state’s rules can be flatly non-compliant two states over. Here’s how five states with active paid sick leave laws compare. This list barely scratches the surface, so verify the current rule for every state and city where you actually have employees before finalizing a policy.

California

California requires 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers can cap what an employee actually uses at 40 hours, or 5 days, per year, and can cap the total accrued balance at 80 hours, or 10 days. Unused time generally has to carry over to the next year, subject to that accrual cap, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations.

New York

New York also uses a 1-hour-per-30-hours-worked accrual rate, but the annual cap depends on employer size, per the State of New York. Employers with 100 or more employees must allow up to 56 hours a year. Employers with 5 to 99 employees cap out at 40 hours. The smallest employers, with 0 to 4 employees, still provide up to 40 hours, paid if the business’s net income tops $1 million, unpaid if it doesn’t.

Washington

Washington uses a slower accrual rate: 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, and it applies to full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees alike. The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries doesn’t cap how much an employee can accrue, but it does require employers to carry over any unused balance of 40 hours or less into the following year.

Colorado

Under Colorado’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, employees accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours per year, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

Arizona

Arizona has its own earned paid sick time law under Proposition 206, and it does set its own accrual rate and caps. Because those specific numbers can shift with rulemaking, don’t rely on a secondhand summary for this one. Confirm the current accrual rate and caps directly with the Industrial Commission of Arizona before setting policy for Arizona employees.

And that’s five states. Add city and county ordinances into the mix, in places like New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle, among dozens of others, and the picture gets more complicated fast. Local ordinances can layer a stricter accrual rate or a lower usage cap on top of the state minimum. The state law alone rarely tells you the whole story.

Common Mistakes When Calculating Sick Leave Accruals

Even employers who know the law on paper still get tripped up in execution. Three mistakes show up again and again.

• Not tracking hours correctly for part-time or variable-hour employees. Accrual is based on actual hours worked, not a scheduled number, so an employee who picks up extra shifts one week earns more sick time that week.
• Ignoring city or county ordinances that are stricter than the state law. A business operating in both a state and a city with paid sick leave rules can’t simply follow the state minimum if the local ordinance sets a higher bar.
• Not carrying over unused time when the law requires it. Several states, including California and Washington, prohibit “use it or lose it” policies for accrued sick leave. Zeroing out balances at year-end when carryover is legally required creates liability.

Picture a part-time server who works 18 hours one week and 28 the next. If payroll calculates accrual off her average schedule instead of the hours she actually clocked, she’s earning the wrong amount every pay period. Multiply that error across a full frontline crew and it adds up fast, usually in the direction that shortchanges the employee and exposes the employer to a wage claim.

How Netchex Helps Keep Sick Leave Accruals Accurate

Getting the math right starts with getting the hours right. Netchex’s time and attendance tools capture actual hours worked, including for part-time and variable-hour staff, so accrual calculations aren’t based on a manager’s memory of who worked what.

From there, payroll and tax processing applies accrual rules consistently across pay periods, and HR tools help track policy by location. Multi-state and multi-city employers don’t end up managing five different spreadsheets for five different sick leave laws.

That’s the difference between hoping your policy is compliant and knowing it is.

Frequently Asked Questions

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Paid sick leave requirements vary significantly by state and locality and change frequently. Consult an employment attorney or your state labor agency to confirm current requirements for your specific locations.

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