By mid-2015, three states and 14 cities in the United States, as well as the District of Columbia, will require employers to provide some form of paid sick leave to their employees. Additional measures currently are being considered by several other states and local governments. Although mandatory paid sick leave appears to be more established globally, the new laws are expected to pose significant challenges for employers operating in multiple jurisdictions in the United States—not only due to the patchwork of various state and local regulations, but also because the new laws seek to place the entire cost of paid sick leave on employers.
When writing about the recent outbreak of paid sick leave legislation occurring throughout the United States, it can be quite difficult to avoid using a bad pun here and there to describe what is happening . . . Joking aside, the recent proliferation of state and local laws in the U.S. requiring employers to provide short-term paid sick leave to their employees is expected to cause administrative headaches for businesses operating in multiple U.S. jurisdictions.
