Paid Sick Leave Requirements in Delaware
At a glance
| Governing law and local interaction | No statewide private-sector paid sick leave or earned paid leave mandate. Title 19 (Labor) has no earned-sick-time chapter — its general provisions run from Chapter 11 (Wage Payment and Collection) to Chapter 13, with no Chapter 12 — and the separate Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (ch. 37, benefits from Jan. 1, 2026) is paid family/medical leave insurance, not employer sick leave, and is outside this survey. Bills to create earned sick and safety leave (HB 409 in 2021-22; HB 17 in 2023-24) failed. State law is silent on local sick-leave ordinances. |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee coverage | No general sick-leave mandate, so there is no paid-sick-leave employer-size threshold, hours- or days-worked test, or covered-employee class. The employer's policy, contract, or CBA sets any coverage; the separate PFML program, federal FMLA, and workers' compensation are outside this survey. |
| Accrual and annual entitlement | N/A No statutory accrual rate, annual entitlement, or service waiting period for private-sector paid sick leave; any accrual and amount come from the employer's policy or agreement. |
| Frontloading, caps, and carryover | N/A No statutory frontload option, annual use cap, bank cap, or carryover rule. A use-it-or-lose-it policy is permitted, and the employer's policy supplies the terms. |
| Qualifying uses and family | N/A No statewide list of qualifying employee-health, family-care, safety, closure, or bereavement uses and no family definition for a paid-sick benefit; the governing policy or agreement controls. |
| Requests, notice, documentation, and increments | N/A No statutory request method, notice standard, documentation limit, replacement-worker rule, confidentiality rule, or minimum increment for a private-sector sick benefit; policy or agreement controls, subject to separately applicable law. |
| Pay, payout, reinstatement, and records | No sick-leave-specific pay, payout, reinstatement, or record duty, and no requirement to provide the benefit at all. But if an employer is party to an agreement to provide sick or vacation pay, 19 Del. C. § 1109 treats it as a 'benefit or wage supplement' the employer must pay within 30 days after it is due; final earned wages are due on the later of the next regular payday or three business days after the last day worked (§ 1103). |
| Posting, retaliation, enforcement, and remedies | No paid-sick-leave-specific poster or retaliation rule. But every employer must make its vacation-pay, sick-leave, and comparable policies available to employees in writing or by posted notice (19 Del. C. § 1108(3)). Once wages or agreed supplements are due, the Wage Payment and Collection Act (ch. 11) is enforced by the Department of Labor or a private action recovering costs and attorney's fees (§§ 1112, 1113); other laws supply their own remedies. |
What Delaware actually requires
Delaware does not require an ordinary private employer to provide paid sick leave or earned paid leave. Title 19, the labor code, has no earned-sick-time chapter — its general provisions run from Chapter 11 (Wage Payment and Collection) straight to Chapter 13, with no Chapter 12. Lawmakers have tried repeatedly to create one: an earned sick time and safety leave bill was introduced as HB 409 in 2021–2022 and again as HB 17 in 2023–2024, and both died without becoming law.
Delaware does have a separate Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (Title 19, Chapter 37), whose paid benefits begin January 1, 2026. That is a state-run paid family and medical leave insurance program funded by payroll contributions, not an employer-provided sick-leave benefit, and it is a different subject from this survey.
Because there is no statewide sick-leave floor, sick time in Delaware is whatever the employer's handbook, employment agreement, or collective bargaining agreement provides. Delaware law is also silent on local sick-leave ordinances, so a city or county rule — if one existed — would have to be checked separately.
What trips people up
The employer must still disclose its sick-leave policy. Even without a mandate, 19 Del. C. § 1108(3) makes it the duty of every employer of more than three employees to make its "employment practices and policies with regard to vacation pay, sick leave and comparable matters" available to employees in writing or by a posted notice. The law does not dictate what the policy says, but it must be disclosed.
An agreed sick-pay or vacation-pay benefit is enforceable. Once an employer is party to an agreement to provide sick, vacation, separation, or holiday pay, 19 Del. C. § 1109 counts that as a "benefit or wage supplement" the employer must pay within 30 days after it is due. So a promise made in a handbook or contract has teeth, even though the underlying benefit is voluntary.
Final earned wages have a firm deadline. When employment ends for any reason, wages already earned are due on the later of the next regular payday or three business days after the last day worked (§ 1103). That deadline covers earned wages, not a discretionary leave balance the policy does not promise to pay out.
Chapter 11 supplies enforcement after an agreed amount becomes due. 19 Del. C. § 1112(a)-(d) authorizes civil penalties for chapter violations and protects employees who complain or participate in proceedings. 19 Del. C. § 1113(a)-(c) permits an unpaid-wage and liquidated-damages action, lets the Department sue to collect unpaid wages, and requires costs and reasonable attorney's fees in a plaintiff's judgment.
Common questions
Must a Delaware employer give paid sick days?
No. Delaware sets no private-sector paid-sick-leave minimum. Any paid sick days come from the employer's policy, contract, or collective bargaining agreement.
Isn't there a new Delaware paid leave law?
Delaware's new program is paid family and medical leave insurance (Title 19, Chapter 37), with benefits starting January 1, 2026. It replaces income during qualifying family and medical leave through a state insurance program; it is not an employer duty to provide ordinary paid sick days, which is the subject here.
Do I get paid for unused sick leave when I leave?
Only if the employer's policy or agreement promises it. Delaware has no statute requiring a payout of unused sick leave, but if a payout was agreed, § 1109 requires the employer to pay it within 30 days after it is due.
Can a Delaware city require paid sick leave?
Delaware law does not address local sick-leave ordinances, and no statewide mandate exists. If a local rule is in place where you work, check it directly.
Statutes and sources
- 19 Del. C. Title 19 (Labor), chapter index. No earned-sick-time chapter exists (general provisions skip from Chapter 11 to Chapter 13); Chapter 37 is the separate Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program. Delaware Code Online, Title 19 (accessed July 23, 2026).
- 19 Del. C. § 1108(3). Employers of more than three employees must make their vacation-pay and sick-leave policies available in writing or by posted notice. Delaware Code Online, Title 19 ch. 11 (accessed July 23, 2026).
- 19 Del. C. § 1109. Agreed benefits or wage supplements — including vacation, separation, or holiday pay — must be paid within 30 days after due. Delaware Code Online, Title 19 ch. 11 (accessed July 23, 2026).
- 19 Del. C. § 1103. Final earned wages due on the later of the next regular payday or three business days after the last day worked. Delaware Code Online, Title 19 ch. 11 (accessed July 23, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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