The Maryland legislature has overridden Governor Larry Hogan 2017 veto of HB 1, the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act, which requires employers of 15 or more employees to provide paid sick and safe leave to their employees. Employers of 14 or less employees are required to provide unpaid sick leave to their employees. The legislation is effective February 12, 2018.

According to Maria Iannatuono, Director of Government Affairs of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, the Department will not begin enforcing the new law until resolution of possible proposed legislation to soften the requirements of the new law and release of implementation information to employers. The law requires the Department to create and release a poster and model notice that the employer may use to notify its employees of the new paid sick and safe leave law. The Department is also directed to develop a model sick and safe leave policy that employers can use to add to their handbooks or other written guidance to employees.

In response to the veto override, the governor issued an executive order that creates the Office of Small Business Regulatory Assistance, for the purpose of assisting small businesses in complying with the new law. According to Ms. Iannatuono, employers and other interested parties should send their questions and comments to small.business@maryland.gov and the emails will be used to develop guidance on the new law.

Law details

Employees must accrue paid sick leave at a rate of one hour per every 30 hours worked. Certain employees are exempt from the law, such as an employee that works less than 12 hours per week or works under certain circumstances for a construction or temporary help employer.

Employers will not be required to allow an employee to accrue more than 40 sick leave hours per year (down from the bill's original 56 hours per year) or use more than 64 hours of sick leave per year (down from 80 hours). New employees will have to wait 106 calendar days to begin to use accrued sick leave (up from 90 days or 480 hours, if shorter). Employees must be allowed to carryover unused sick leave to the next year unless the employer awards the full amount of earned sick and safe leave at the beginning of each year.

The law preempts Maryland localities from passing sick and safe leave laws of their own, retroactive to January 1, 2017. As a result, employers must continue to comply with Montgomery County's paid sick and safe leave law, which was enacted in 2016; but the law preempts Prince George's County's paid sick and safe leave law, which was passed in December 2017.

———————————————

———————————————
ATTACHMENT

EY Payroll News Flash