Topics on this page

• Overview
• Use of Leave
• Who is Covered?
• Employers with Fewer than Five Employee
• Employers with More than Five Employees
• Granting versus Accruing
• Terminated Employees and Rehired Employees
• Enforcement

Overview

The Montgomery County Earned Sick and Safe Leave Law (Sick & Safe Leave Law) requires employers to provide each employee with earned sick and safe leave for work performed in Montgomery County. Earned sick and safe leave is paid at the employee’s normal rate. Employees who earn tips must be paid at least the Montgomery County minimum wage for each hour the employee uses earned sick and safe leave.

Although employers are allowed to choose their own paid leave policies or plans, they must meet the minimum requirements of the Sick & Safe Leave Law. Employers must keep records of each employee's accrued and used sick and safe leave and maintain these records for at least 3 years.

The law went into effect on October 1, 2016. For employees under a Collective Bargaining Agreement, the law goes into effect after the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Chapter 27, Article XIII (Sec. 27-76 et seq.)

Use of Leave

Allowed Uses: You may use earned sick and safe leave for the following reasons:

1. to care for or treat the your own illness (mental or physical), injury, or health condition;
2. to obtain preventative medical care for you or your family member;
3. to take care of a family member with an illness (physical or mental), injury, or health condition;
4. when your place of business or your family member’s school or child care center has been closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency;
5. to care for a family member if a health official or health care provider determined the family member’s presence in the community, due to exposure to a communicable disease, would jeopardize the health of others;
6. for the birth of a child or placement of a child with you for adoption or foster care;
7. to care for a newborn, newly adopted, or newly placed child within one year of birth, adoption, or placement; or
8. due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking against you or your family member. Leave must be used for medical attention, services from a victim services organization, legal services, or during the time that you have temporarily relocated.

Requesting Leave - Request leave as soon as practicable after the employee determining you need to take leave. Notify your employer of the duration of the leave and comply with your employer’s established leave procedures. Your employer cannot require you to disclose specific details of your or your family member's mental or physical illness or require you to provide information that would violate the Federal Social Security Act or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Your employer also cannot require you to find someone to take your place while you take leave. However, if you use more than 3 consecutive days of earned sick and safe leave, your employer may require you to provide reasonable documentation to verify that the leave was used appropriately.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Sec. 27.79

Who is Covered

The Sick & Safe Leave Law applies to:

• employers who have at least one employee (Employers do not include the United States, any state, or any other local government. The law does apply to Montgomery County government.); and
• employees who regularly work more than 8 hours per week.

The law does not apply to the following groups:

1. Employees who work less than 8 hours per week;
2. Independent contractors;
3. Individuals who do not have a regular work schedule with the employer;
4. Individuals who contact the employer for work assignments and are assigned within 48 hours of contact; and
5. Individuals who have no obligation to work for the employer and are not employed by a temporary placement agency.

The employer’s requirements under the Sick & Safe Leave Law depend on the number of employees who work for the employer. Regardless of the size of the employer, the Sick & Safe Leave Law does not allow an employer to require that an employee take this leave in any larger than 4 hour increments, and does not require the employer to allow an employee to use more than 80 hours of leave in a calendar year.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Sec. 27.76, 27-77, 27-79

Employers with Fewer than Five Employees

The paid earned sick and safe leave must accrue at a rate of at least 1 hour for every 30 hours an employee works in the County. The employer:

• must provide each employee with both paid and unpaid sick and safe leave for work performed in the County;
• is not required to provide an employee with more than 32 hours of earned paid sick and safe leave and 24 hours of unpaid earned sick and safe leave in a calendar year; and
• is not required to allow an employee to use more than 80 hours of earned sick and safe leave in a calendar year.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Sec. 27-77

Employers with More than Five Employees

The paid earned sick and safe leave must accrue at a rate of at least 1 hour for every 30 hours an employees works in the County. The employer:

• must provide each employee with both paid sick and safe leave for work performed in the County;
• is not required to provide an employee more than 56 hours of earned sick and safe leave in a calendar year; and
• is not required to allow an employee to use more than 80 hours of earned sick and safe leave in a calendar year.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Sec. 27-77

Granting Versus Accruing

The Sick & Safe Leave Law allows employers to grant the full amount of sick and safe leave at the beginning of the calendar year or to require the employee to accrue the leave commensurate with the number of hours worked by the employee. Regardless of the method the employer chooses, there is no waiting period for an employee to earn leave, but employers can restrict the use of leave during the employee’s initial 90-day probationary period.

For example:  Mary hires Sarah, a new employee. Mary puts Sarah on a 90-day probationary period. During the 90-day period, Mary must allow Sarah to accrue sick and safe leave. However, Mary may forbid Sarah from using the hours during the probationary period.

Granting Leave - An employer who chooses to grant the leave at the beginning of the calendar year is not required to allow the employee to carry over any unused leave to the next calendar year. 

Accruing Leave - If the employer chooses to provide earned sick and safe leave as the leave accrues, the employee must be allowed to carry over any unused earned sick and safe leave to the next calendar year. However, the employer is allowed to limit the “carry over” to 56 hours.

For example:  Mary hires John. She can choose to give John all the earned sick and safe leave hours that he is expected to accrue in 2017 at the beginning of 2017. Mary can also choose to give John his earned sick and safe leave hours as they are accrued throughout 2017. If Mary chooses to give John his earned sick and safe leave hours as they accrue, she must let John carry his unused hours over to 2018. If John accrues 20 hours in 2017 but only uses 15, he can carry the extra 5 hours to 2018.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Sec. 27-78

Terminated Employees and Rehired Employees

Terminated Employees - An employer is not required to compensate an employee for unused leave at the end of the employment relationship. However, the employer may be compensated if an employee leaves employment and has used more earned sick and safe leave than was accrued. Where an employee has used more sick and safe leave than accrued, the employer may deduct the amount paid for the sick and safe leave from the wages paid to the employee. An employer may only do so if the employee signed a document showing that the employer and employee had agreed to the deduction.

For example:  Mary hires John to work at her restaurant in January. By June, John has accrued 15 earned sick and safe leave hours but used 20 hours. If John stops working for Mary, Mary is allowed to deduct the wages she paid for the 5 hours. She can only do so, however, if John signed a document showing that he and Mary agreed to the deduction.

Rehired Employees - If an employee is rehired by an employer within 9 months after leaving employment, the employer must restore any unused earned sick and safe leave that the employee had at the time the employee left employment. The only exception to this requirement occurs when the employee voluntarily left without good cause.

For example: Mary terminated John’s employment. After eight months, Mary agrees to hire John again. Because John has not been away for more than 9 months, Mary has to give back any hours that John accrued but did not use.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Sec. 27-78

Enforcement

An employer may not retaliate against an employee for exercising the rights granted by the Sick & Safe Leave Law. An employee who did not receive earned sick and safe leave in violation of the law may file a complaint with the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights. The time limit for filing a complaint is one year from the date of the violation.

Employers in Montgomery County must notify their employees of the Sick & Safe Leave entitlement by posting a notice in the workplace and including a notice in the Employee Handbook or other written guidance given to employees. The Notice must include an explanation of how sick and safe leave is accrued, the permitted uses for sick and safe leave, a statement that retaliation is prohibited, and information regarding how to file a complaint regarding violation of the Sick & Safe Leave Law.

Read the law: Montgomery County Code, Sec. 27-80; Sec. 27-82