Paid Sick Leave Requirements in Hawaii

At a glance

Hawaii does not require an employer to create paid sick leave

Hawaii's Wage Standards Division states the statewide baseline directly: "paid vacation and sick leave is not required by law." An employer that chooses to provide sick leave must disclose its policy in writing or through an accessible posting under HRS § 388-7(3), and that policy ordinarily decides how the benefit is earned and used.

The Hawaii Family Leave Law adds a narrow but important exception. It still does not make an employer create a sick-leave bank. But a covered employer that already provides sick leave must let an eligible employee use accrued and available sick leave for chapter 398 family-leave purposes, ordinarily up to 10 days per year.

Who receives the family-leave use right

The HFLL generally covers an employer with at least 100 employees for each working day in at least 20 weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. For that threshold, DLIR counts workers on the Hawaii payroll—including part-time, temporary, intermittent, and leave-status workers—but not laid-off workers or workers at mainland or international locations who do not work in Hawaii.

An employee becomes eligible after six consecutive months of service for hire. Unlike federal FMLA eligibility, Hawaii does not add a minimum-hours test to that six-month requirement.

The 10 days are a use ceiling, not an award

Section 398-4(c) requires access only to sick leave that is both "accrued and available." DLIR confirms that an employer without a sick-leave plan need not create one, an employer with fewer than 10 days need not add days, and an employee with no available balance receives no paid family leave from this rule.

The ordinary ceiling is 10 days per year. A valid collective bargaining agreement may expressly allow more. The employer also need not reduce an employee's sick balance below the amount reserved for statutory temporary disability coverage under HRS § 392-41.

Hawaii supplies no general one-per-30-hours accrual rule, annual frontload, carryover floor, or sick-bank cap. Those terms come from the disclosed employer policy. The 10-day figure should therefore never be described as 10 new sick days granted by the State.

When existing sick leave may be used

The required family-leave purposes are:

• birth or adoption of the employee's child;
• care for a child, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, sibling, grandchild, or parent with a serious health condition; and
• effective July 1, 2026, a qualifying military exigency related to active-duty service by one of those relatives.

The family definitions are broader than the short labels suggest. "Parent" includes a parent-in-law, stepparent, legal guardian, grandparent, and grandparent-in-law. Family leave may be intermittent, does not accumulate from year to year, and remains subject to the chapter's four-week total.

The 2026 military rule is current law even though the codified HRS web pages had not yet incorporated it when checked. The quoted provisions in 2026 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 13 (SB 3082, CD1), §§ 2-7 amended §§ 398-1, 398-3, 398-5, and 398-6 and took effect July 1, 2026.

Notice, proof, job protection, and remedies

For foreseeable birth, adoption, family-care, or military-exigency leave, the employee must give prior notice in a reasonable and practicable manner. An employer may require written certification. Serious-health-condition certification comes from the family member's health care provider, while a military-exigency request must include official military orders.

An employee returning from HFLL leave generally must be restored to the same or an equivalent position with equivalent pay and benefits. The law bars interference, denial, discharge, and discrimination connected to protected rights, opposition, complaints, information, and testimony.

A DLIR complaint is due within 90 days of the act or its discovery and never later than 180 days after the act. Available relief can include lost compensation, specified direct losses, liquidated damages, injunctive relief, costs, and attorney fees. An employee who receives a right-to-sue notice has 90 days to file, and an intentional violation is a petty misdemeanor.

Common questions

Must every Hawaii employer give 10 paid sick days?

No. Hawaii does not require an employer to create paid sick leave. The 10-day rule lets an eligible employee at a covered employer use up to 10 days of an existing accrued and available balance for family-leave purposes.

Does the law apply to a small private employer?

Usually not. The HFLL threshold is 100 or more employees for each working day during at least 20 weeks in the current or preceding year.

Can sick leave be used for a military deployment need?

Potentially. Since July 1, 2026, qualifying military exigency is a chapter 398 family-leave purpose. The employee still needs HFLL eligibility and accrued and available sick leave, and documentation must include official military orders.

Must unused sick leave carry over or be paid at separation?

Not under a general Hawaii sick-leave mandate. Hawaii sets no statewide frontload, carryover, bank-cap, or separation-payout rule for ordinary private employers; the disclosed employer policy controls those terms.

Statutes and sources

• HRS § 388-7(3). Requires an employer to give employees its vacation and sick-leave policies in writing or by accessible posting. Hawaii State Legislature (accessed July 23, 2026).
• HRS § 398-1 and HRS § 398-4(c). Define coverage and sick leave and require up to 10 days of existing accrued and available sick leave to be usable for chapter purposes. Hawaii State Legislature (accessed July 23, 2026).
• 2026 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 13 (SB 3082, CD1), §§ 2-7. Adds qualifying military exigency, including official-orders documentation, effective July 1, 2026. Hawaii State Legislature (accessed July 23, 2026).
• HRS § 398-7 and HRS § 398-8. Govern restoration, benefit protection, interference, and retaliation. HRS § 398-1.5, HRS § 398-21(d), HRS § 398-26(b)-(c), HRS § 398-27, and HRS § 398-29 govern posting, complaint deadlines, civil remedies, and penalties. Hawaii State Legislature (accessed July 23, 2026).
• DLIR Wage Standards Division guidance. Confirms that Hawaii does not require creation of paid sick leave and explains coverage and the 10-day existing-leave rule. Vacation and Sick Leave and Hawaii Family Leave (accessed July 23, 2026).