Paid Sick Leave Session Aims to Make Compliance More Manageable

Attendees left the Paid Sick Leave—from Perk to Mandate workshop this morning with their eyes wide open about the challenges of managing sick leave in a time where every state, municipality, and town have their own rules about sick leave that the payroll profession must learn and follow.

The workshop was designed to help maneuver payroll professionals through new legislation coming down the pike. The session focused on key legislative mandates, including accrual, usage, carryover rules, pay rate calculations, and recordkeeping obligations.

Leading the session were Lia Coniglio, Esq., APA’s Manager of State Payroll Information Resources; Laura Lough, Esq., APA’s Director of Publications; and Beth Baerman, Director of Communications with Attendance on Demand, Inc.

“A workshop on paid sick leave is important for payroll professionals because it remains a hot topic,” Coniglio told Congress Today before the session. “Employers face compliance challenges with states and localities proposing and passing laws, and it can be hard to keep up with the changes.”

Cindy Fowler, an HR professional with Denny’s restaurants, said after the workshop that the company seems to be in compliance, but the session gave her reason to revisit the issue.

Paul Magazine, an HR consultant who attended the session, said, “It has become a burden on HR resources to keep up with all the rules." He noted that one city requires that blind employees be allowed to take off time to take their guide dogs to the veterinarian.

Lough said because many more states and cities are requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to employees, payroll professionals have to be aware of these requirements. This can be challenging for multistate employers that have employees all over the country. Lough is confident attendees learned some of the common elements and key differences of paid sick leave requirements in their states and cities.

“This session allows them to review their current benefits policies or craft new policies that cover their employees no matter which state or city they are working in,” Lough said. “We shared some helpful resources to track paid sick day campaigns so payroll professionals can keep abreast of new developments that might affect them.”

Coniglio hopes attendees are able to learn more about paid sick leave programs, and also about some great resources to track state and local proposals

“Having the tools to track the requirements and knowing where to look for the information can make compliance less overwhelming and more manageable,” she said.

Additional reporting by Teresa Burney.