What Can An Employer Do To Stay Compliant With Paid Leave Mandates?

Most employers are finding the paid leaves mandate a big challenge to deal with! According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), employers are required to grant mandatory paid sick or family leaves to their employees and that may vary state to state.

It has become one of the most daunting regulations for employers since complying with different paid leave rules simultaneously leads to higher administrative complexity bringing in added scheduling uncertainty and pressure of being in compliance.

How has the Law Increased Employer’s Complexity?

Due to two overlapping but distinct time-off mandates- paid family leave & paid sick leave, most of the employers are in a state of conflict. A number of doubts and concerns are looming over them. Such as:

• Unclear eligibility criteria for sick leaves - The eligibility for paid sick leave is not properly described like whether it is also applicable for part-time workers or not. And also, how many hours a new recruit should work to get eligible for this law?
• How the law defines family members of the employee? Whether it is only for spouse & parents or it includes other family members as well (siblings, grandparents etc.)?
• How much paid sick leaves an employee can avail in a year? It is not clearly defined that whether there is any hard-and-fast rule for number of paid sick or family leaves or it depends on the organization.
• No proper carry-forward rule? Is there any mandatory advance notice of leave scheme?
• What are the consequences of violation of the law? Can an employee file a lawsuit against its employer for the same?

Hence, unclear and vaguely described laws can put employers in a big confusion that can lead to non-compliance later on; therefore, it is necessary for them to take a few proactive and efficient steps towards it.

What Employers Can Do To Comply With The Law?

• Keep Yourself Updated: Stay alert for all the latest developments and changes taking place in jurisdictions regarding the paid leave legislation. The employers should be able to understand these changes and must remember effective dates that may vary from state to state and municipality to municipality. Employers can also take help from industry experts or benefit brokers to get up to speed on the frequent and latest changes to stay compliant.

• Incorporate Smart HR System: Another effective solution can be to re-evaluate organization’s Human Capital Management (HCM) strategy; an automated and effective HRIS can help employers in managing their employees’ time and attendance effectively that will be useful in complying with state’s paid sick leave mandates. Moreover, with the self-service functionality, employees will get to know about their eligibility for paid leaves, leave status, and its limit & how much they can carry-forward to the next year- with respect to each and every state or local mandate.

• Select “Most Generous” Policy: Organizations should review their time and attendance policy, especially where sick-leave and vacation leaves are not clearly defined. Paid time off (PTO) is necessary to run the policy in accord with state and local laws. For multi-jurisdictional employers, implementing the “most generous” policy can be a smart decision since it will impart two benefits- makes employees happy as well as keep organization’s policies compliant with the law. Moreover, to lessen the administrative complexity, employers can clarify the maximum number of sick-leave hours accruable in a year at the beginning and when an employee will become eligible for the same.

Last important words:
The reality-check is that the paid leave mandates are escalating in jurisdictions across the nation, and employers should gear themselves up to stay compliant with the laws in every jurisdiction for the eligible employees. They must comply with the federal FMLA together with numerous state laws. A smart HCM technology can help employers to create and manage a real-time scheduling system to seamlessly incorporate the laws in the system as soon as they come into effect.