Hawaii: Paid Sick Leave Requirements
The short answer
Hawaii does not require a private employer to create paid sick leave or prescribe an accrual rate. But an employer covered by the Hawaii Family Leave Law—generally one with at least 100 employees—must let an employee with six consecutive months of service use up to 10 days per year of existing accrued and available sick leave for family-leave purposes, including birth, adoption, care for specified relatives with a serious health condition, and, since July 1, 2026, a qualifying military exigency.
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This is the general rule in Hawaii. Ezel applies current Hawaii law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and local interaction | Hawaii has no general private-sector paid-sick or earned-paid-leave mandate: DLIR states that paid sick leave 'is not required by law,' and HRS § 388-7(3) instead requires disclosure of any employer policy. HRS chapter 398 creates a narrower use right for existing sick leave under the Hawaii Family Leave Law (HFLL). 2026 Haw. Sess. Laws Act 13 added qualifying military exigency effective July 1, 2026. The cited statewide provisions contain no express local-preemption rule; local requirements must be checked separately. |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee coverage | HFLL employer = an individual or organization, including government, with ≥100 employees for each working day in ≥20 calendar weeks in the current or preceding year. DLIR counts the employer's Hawaii payroll, including part-time, temporary, intermittent, and leave-status workers, but not laid-off workers or mainland/international employees who do not work in Hawaii. Eligible employee = service for hire for ≥6 consecutive months; no hours-worked minimum (§ 398-1; DLIR FAQ 1-2). |
| Accrual and annual entitlement | No state accrual rate, annual award, or service waiting period for creating sick leave. DLIR says HFLL does not require an employer without a plan to create one, add days when a plan provides fewer than 10, or provide more than the accrued and available amount. For a covered employee who has a balance, § 398-4(c) supplies a family-leave use ceiling of 10 days/year, not a 10-day entitlement. |
| Frontloading, caps, and carryover | No state frontloading rule, accrual/bank cap, or carryover floor; the disclosed employer policy sets how sick leave is earned and retained. The HFLL use right reaches only accrued and available leave and ordinarily caps family-leave use at 10 days/year; a valid CBA may expressly authorize more. The employer need not diminish the balance below the temporary-disability-insurance equivalent required by § 392-41 (§ 398-4(c)). |
| Qualifying uses and family | Existing accrued/available sick leave must be usable for chapter 398 purposes: birth or adoption; 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. 'Parent' includes biological/foster/adoptive parent, parent-in-law, stepparent, legal guardian, grandparent, and grandparent-in-law (§§ 398-1, 398-3, 398-4(c); Act 13). Leave may be intermittent and is not cumulative. |
| Requests, notice, documentation, and increments | When birth, adoption, serious-health-condition care, or military-exigency leave is foreseeable, prior notice must be reasonable and practicable; the request must include evidence of submission and required § 398-9.5 data. Employer may require written certification; provider/court/adoption-source rules depend on the reason, serious-health-condition proof comes from the relative's provider, and military-exigency documentation must include official military orders (§§ 398-5, 398-6, as amended by Act 13). No HFLL minimum-use increment is stated; an existing policy's waiting period remains unless it conflicts with the use right. |
| Pay, payout, reinstatement, and records | HFLL reaches existing compensated sick leave but sets no separate hourly-rate formula, separation payout, rehire-restoration period, balance statement, or sick-bank record schedule; DLIR says the employer policy determines earning and use criteria. Section 388-7(3) requires the vacation/sick policy in writing or accessible posting. After HFLL leave, the employee generally returns to the same or equivalent position/pay/benefits, and preleave benefits cannot be lost except paid leave spent during the absence (§ 398-7). |
| Posting, retaliation, enforcement, and remedies | Every covered employer must conspicuously post the chapter 398 rights notice (§ 398-1.5); § 398-8 bars interference, restraint, denial, discharge, and discrimination for opposition, charges, information, or testimony. A verified DLIR complaint is due within 90 days of the act or discovery and never >180 days after the act (§ 398-21). After a right-to-sue notice, suit is due within 90 days; relief may include lost compensation, direct losses up to 4 weeks' wages where none was lost, equal liquidated damages subject to good-faith reduction, injunction, costs, and attorney fees (§§ 398-25 to 398-27). Intentional violation is a petty misdemeanor (§ 398-29). |
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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. Act 13 (SB 3082) 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).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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