Sick Time Question

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ttharvey

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My husband owns a business (LLC) in the state of NH and has 1 full time employee who could possibly be out on sick time for 3-6 weeks (so far he has missed 7 days and will definitely be out another 5). I don't believe there is anything in his contract that talks about sick time (how many days of sick time he is allowed, etc). I am wondering how long my husband will have to pay him 100% of his pay and if there are any laws on the subject.
Thank you!
 
Is the employee exempt or non-exempt? It makes a difference to the answer.

Note: I am not referring to tax status; I am referring to exempt/non-exempt as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
 
I'm going to give you two answers; one Federal, one state.

Under Federal law, if your husband does not offer at least 5 paid sick days, he cannot dock an exempt employee for time missed due to illness. However, he also does not have to pay an exempt employee for any work week in which he does no work whatsoever. So in that case, he would have to be paid his full salary for every week in which he worked part of the week.

Let me give you an example. For purposes of this example, I'm going to assume that your work week runs Sunday through Saturday and the employee works Monday through Friday. Let's say he worked Monday, Tuesday, and then went out on medical leave on Wednesday. We'll say he's out for five weeks, then is out for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and returns on Thursday. For both the first and last weeks of the medical leave, he must be paid in full, since he worked part of the week.

If your husband offers at least 5 paid sick days, then when those days are used up, he need not pay him at all for the remainder of the medical leave.

Now, let's address NH law, which is slightly more generous. Under NH law, your husband cannot dock him for time missed due to illness for any day in which the employee calls in sick. So he could technically be required to pay him for every single day the employee is out, if the employee is clever enough to call in every single day.

Does that help? Or make it more confusing?
 
Thank you for the information. I am a little confused about the NH law and it doesn't make sense to me. The employee has an illness and will be out for some time. He has told us that he will be out all next week and might be able to return to work for a few days the week of 8/11. Because of this are you saying that under NH law we are required to pay him? He isn't calling in sick every day but we know he isn't coming to work because he is too sick right now. How can Federal and NH law be so different? I assume we have to follow the NH law?
 
You have to follow both laws.

The NH law is not really all that different, given that you do not offer paid sick time. There are those who interpret the Federal law as saying that you would have to pay him for ALL the time he is out, not just the first and last week. I don't interpret the Federal law that way but there are people who do. Because he has told you that he will be out, because of illness, under NH law you have to pay him. The NH law, as strictly read, would seem to imply that you only have to pay him for the days on which he actually calls in, but frankly that's a subterfuge. The spirit of the law is clear - you have to pay an exempt employee who misses time due to illness.

And if you think THOSE two laws are different, be glad you don't live in California.;)
 
Every state CAN have different laws, and often do.

There is Federal law, which all employers have to follow. No state can make Federal law go away. However, each state can have laws that either expand on, or address questions that are not addressed by, Federal law. If the state chooses to do that, different states will have different laws.
 
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