Overview of Paid Sick Time Laws in the United States:
Connecticut
Updated on January 2, 2025
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| Connecticut | |
| Who is covered? Note: City/county paid sick time laws cannot cover state government workers, and city, county, and state paid sick time laws cannot cover federal government workers. | Workers who are employed in Connecticut are covered beginning on: January 1, 2025, if they work for employers with 25 or more employees in the state; January 1, 2026, if they work for employers with 11 or more employees in the state; or January 1, 2027, if they work for employers with 1 or more employees in the state. Seasonal employees who work 120 days or less in a year are exempted. |
| Can sick time be used to care for loved ones? | Yes: spouse; sibling; child; grandparent; grandchild; parent; or an individual related to the employee by blood or affinity whose close association the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships. |
| How is “child” defined? | A biological, adopted or foster child, stepchild or legal ward of the employee, a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis, or an individual to whom the employee stood in loco parentis when the individual was a child. |
| Can sick time be used for specific “safe time” purposes (related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking)? | Yes, when the worker or worker’s family member is the victim. |
| Can sick time be used under the law to bond with a new child and/or deal with a family member’s death? Note: It is possible that other laws, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act or a state equivalent, could provide eligible workers with unpaid leave for these purposes. | No |
| Can sick time be used when a worker’s place of work or child’s school/place of care is closed by public health officials for a public health emergency? | Yes. |
| Rate at which workers earn paid sick time? | 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. |
| Do workers have different sick time-related rights based on the size of their employer? If so, based on what employer-size threshold(s)? | Yes. Workers are covered by the State’s expanded paid sick time law beginning on: January 1, 2025, if they work for employers with 25 or more employees in the state; January 1, 2026, if they work for employers with 11 or more employees in the state; or January 1, 2027, if they work for employers with 1 or more employees in the state. Workers are not covered by the paid sick time law if they work for employers with fewer employees than the above-listed thresholds. |
| Amount of paid sick time that can be earned under the law per year? (Note: All of these paid sick time laws make it clear that these laws establish a minimum requirement, and employers can provide greater or more generous paid sick time benefits to their workers.) | Up to 40 hours of paid sick time a year |
| When do workers begin to earn paid sick time? | Under the expanded law: at the commencement of employment or January 1, 2025, whichever is later. Workers may use earned paid sick time beginning 120 calendar days after their date of hire. |
| Does unused sick time carry forward to the subsequent year? | Workers are entitled to carry forward up to 40 hours of unused paid sick time, but employers are not required to allow an employee to use more than 40 hours a year. In lieu of carrying forward unused paid sick time from one year to the next, an employer may provide the worker with an amount of paid sick time that meets or exceeds the law’s requirements that is available for the worker’s immediate use at the beginning of the subsequent year. |
| Private Right of Action to go to Court? | No |
| Are there waivers/ exemptions for workers covered by a valid Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)? | Workers who are members of construction-related tradesperson employee organizations are exempt if they are covered by a multiemployer health plan (in which more than one employer is required to contribute to such plan) pursuant to a valid CBA between the construction-related tradesperson employee organization and the employer. |
| What Agency or Official Enforces the Law? | The Connecticut Department of Labor |
| For the statewide paid sick time laws: can cities in the state pass paid sick time laws that are broader than the state law? | Not explicitly addressed in the paid sick time law |
| Statutory Citation(s) | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-57r et seq. |
| Additional Notes | Connecticut’s paid sick time law initially went into effect on January 1, 2012, and only covered hourly workers in certain “service” occupations who worked for a business with 50 or more workers. An expanded version of the law, whose updates are reflected in this chart, went into effect on January 1, 2025. For more information, see https://portal.ct.gov/dol/knowledge-base/articles/wage-and-workplace-standards/paid-sick-leave |
