27 June 2017 Georgia requires that paid sick leave include up to five days for immediate family illness Recently enacted SB 201 requires that employers of 25 or more employees that provide paid sick leave to employees allow eligible employees to use their sick days to care for the illness of an immediate family member. The bill is effective July 1, 2017. The bill does not require an employer to offer paid sick leave to employees. An employer that does provide paid sick leave to employees can limit the number of sick days allowed for employees to use for the illness of family members to no more than five days per calendar year. The law applies to employees that work for salary, wages, or other remuneration for at least 30 hours per week. An immediate family member is defined as the employee's child, spouse, grandchild, grandparent, parent, or any dependent as shown on the employee's most recent tax return. Employer includes any individual or entity, including the state of Georgia and its political subdivisions, which employs 25 or more employees. Unlike other recently enacted state sick leave laws (i.e., Arizona, Washington), the Georgia law does not require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. SB 201 only requires that employers choosing to provide paid sick leave allow employees to use up to 5 days of this time to care for the illness of a family member. Document ID: 2017-1025 |
