Massachusetts Sick Time Law: How Much You Earn and How to Use It

Earned sick time is one of the workplace rights covered in Massachusetts labor laws on wages, hours, and worker rights. It comes from M.G.L. c. 149, § 148C, the Earned Sick Time Law that Massachusetts voters approved as Question 4 on the 2014 ballot, and from the Attorney General’s earned sick time regulations at 940 CMR 33.00. What follows is how much time you earn, when you can start using it, what counts as a covered reason, and the protections that apply when you take it.

How much sick time you earn

Under the Earned Sick Time Law, an employee earns a minimum of one hour of earned sick time for every 30 hours worked. Accrual begins on the date of hire. The amount you can earn and use is capped: no employee is entitled to more than 40 hours in a calendar year, whether the time is paid or unpaid, under M.G.L. c. 149, § 148C.

Salaried employees who are exempt from overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are assumed to work 40 hours each week for accrual purposes, unless their normal workweek is shorter, in which case accrual follows the shorter week. The law sets a floor, not a ceiling: an employer is free to grant sick time faster, or allow its use sooner, than the statute requires.

Paid or unpaid: the 11-employee threshold

Whether your sick time is paid turns on the size of your employer. An employer with 11 or more employees must provide the 40 hours as paid earned sick time. An employer with fewer than 11 employees provides the same 40 hours, but it does not have to be paid, according to M.G.L. c. 149, § 148C and the Attorney General’s earned sick time guidance. Unpaid earned sick time is still job-protected.

Head count is measured across the whole workforce. Full-time, part-time, and temporary workers performing work for compensation all count toward the total number of employees. When earned sick time is paid, it is paid at the same hourly rate the employee earns at the time it is used, and that rate cannot fall below the Massachusetts minimum wage.

What earned sick time can be used for

The statute lists specific reasons an employee can use earned sick time. It covers care for the employee’s own physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition, including preventative care, and the same care for the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or spouse’s parent. It also covers routine medical appointments for the employee or those same family members, and time to address the psychological, physical, or legal effects of domestic violence.

As of November 21, 2024, the covered reasons also include an employee’s own needs, or a spouse’s, arising from pregnancy loss or a failed assisted reproduction, adoption, or surrogacy, as noted in the Attorney General’s earned sick time guidance. An employer cannot require an employee to search for or find a replacement worker to cover the hours the employee is out on earned sick time.

How to use earned sick time

Using earned sick time involves three practical points: telling the employer, recording the time in the right increment, and providing documentation only when the law allows the employer to ask for it.

1. Give advance notice when the absence is foreseeable

   When the need for earned sick time is foreseeable, such as a scheduled medical appointment, the employee makes a good faith effort to notify the employer in advance. For an unexpected illness or an emergency, advance notice is not required. An employer may keep a reasonable notification policy, but it cannot use that policy to deny time an employee is entitled to take.

2. Track the time in the correct increment

   Earned sick time is used in the smaller of hourly increments or the smallest increment the employer’s payroll system uses to record other absences, under M.G.L. c. 149, § 148C. That means an employee generally does not have to take a full day when only an hour or two is needed.

3. Provide documentation only when it is required

   An employer may request certification only when an absence covers more than 24 consecutively scheduled work hours, which the Attorney General describes as more than three consecutive workdays. A signed note from a health care provider is acceptable, and the employer cannot require the documentation to explain the nature of the illness or the details of the domestic violence.

Carryover, payout, and existing PTO policies

Unused earned sick time carries over from one calendar year to the next, up to 40 hours. The carryover does not raise the annual ceiling: an employee still cannot use more than 40 hours in a single calendar year, under M.G.L. c. 149, § 148C.

An employer that already offers paid time off, vacation, or another paid leave policy does not have to add separate earned sick time if that policy provides at least as many hours, and those hours can be used for the same reasons and under the same conditions as earned sick time. The Attorney General’s regulations at 940 CMR 33.00 set out how a combined policy has to work to satisfy the law.

Your protections and how the law is enforced

The law makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with earned sick time or to retaliate against a worker for using it. An employer cannot treat the use of earned sick time as a negative factor in an evaluation, promotion, discipline, or termination, and cannot take adverse action against an employee for supporting a coworker’s rights or reporting a suspected violation.

The Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division enforces the Earned Sick Time Law. A worker who believes an employer violated the law can file a complaint with that office. Under M.G.L. c. 149, § 150, an employee may also bring a private civil action 90 days after filing a complaint with the Attorney General, or sooner if the office assents in writing, and within three years of the violation. An employee who prevails is awarded treble damages as liquidated damages, plus the costs of the litigation and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

Employers also have a posting duty. Every employer must display the Attorney General’s Notice of Employee Rights in a conspicuous place and give a copy to each worker or include an earned sick time policy in the employee handbook.