Paid Sick Leave Requirements in New Hampshire

At a glance

New Hampshire does not require a sick-leave bank

New Hampshire has no statewide law requiring an ordinary private employer to create paid sick leave or general earned paid leave. There is no state accrual rate, annual allotment, frontload, carryover floor, bank cap, or waiting period. The employer's policy decides whether the benefit exists and how it works.

State law does regulate that voluntary policy. RSA 275:49 requires an employer to make its sick-leave practices and policies available in writing or through an accessible posted notice. RSA 275:43(V) then treats sick pay as wages when it becomes due under the employment practice or policy.

That "when due" language matters. It does not make every unused sick balance payable at separation. It means the policy decides whether a balance is due, and the wage-payment statute supplies deadlines and remedies only after the policy-created amount becomes payable.

A narrow crime-victim rule can reach existing sick time

New Hampshire's crime-victim leave law is not a sick-leave entitlement, but it can require access to an existing balance. At an employer with at least 25 employees, a covered crime victim may leave work to attend court or other legal or investigative proceedings associated with prosecution. The employee may elect to use accrued paid sick, vacation, or personal time, and the employer may require use of that accrued paid time.

For this subdivision, RSA 275:61 incorporates the employee definition in RSA 275:4; that definition includes workers permitted, required, or directed to work for direct or indirect gain, subject to its stated exclusions.

The leave itself need not be paid if no accrued balance is used. It preserves seniority, bars discharge and discrimination, and requires confidentiality of submitted documents. The employee must provide the court or agency notice for each scheduled hearing, conference, or meeting. An employer may limit leave that creates the statute's defined undue hardship.

"Victim" includes the immediate family of a minor or incompetent victim and the immediate family of a homicide victim. The family list includes a parent, stepparent, child, stepchild, sibling, spouse, grandparent, legal guardian, and a cohabiting intimate partner.

What the employer policy controls

Because there is no general mandate, the disclosed policy controls:

• who receives sick time and when accrual begins;
• the accrual or frontload amount;
• annual use and bank caps;
• carryover and forfeiture;
• illness, family-care, preventive-care, and other permitted uses;
• requests, notice, documentation, confidentiality, and use increments;
• the pay formula, separation payout, rehire restoration, and balance records.

Separate law can override the policy in a particular situation. The crime-victim provisions are one example. Federal FMLA, disability, pregnancy-accommodation, workers' compensation, and other leave laws can also apply, but they do not create a New Hampshire paid-sick accrual mandate.

Wage enforcement when sick pay is due

If the policy makes sick pay due, RSA 275:43(V) classifies it as wages. A discharged employee's due wages generally must be paid within 72 hours; quit, resignation, suspension, and layoff deadlines vary under RSA 275:44. A wage claim may be filed with the Department of Labor within 36 months after the wages were due, and an employee may sue for unpaid wages and liquidated damages. A court may award costs and reasonable attorney fees.

These remedies do not create sick leave or override a lawful policy saying an unused balance is not payable. They enforce the benefit only when it is due.

Common questions

Must a New Hampshire employer provide paid sick days?

No. State law sets no general minimum amount of paid sick leave for private employees.

Must the employer disclose its sick-leave policy?

Yes. RSA 275:49(III) requires the employer to make its vacation, sick-leave, and other fringe-benefit practices and policies available in writing or through an accessible posted notice.

Can an employee use sick time for a crime-victim proceeding?

At a covered 25-or-more-employee employer, yes, if the employee has accrued paid sick time. The employee may elect to use it, or the employer may require its use, for covered court, legal, or investigative proceedings.

Must unused sick time be paid when employment ends?

Only if the employer's practice or policy makes it due. New Hampshire treats policy-created sick pay as wages when due but does not impose a universal unused-sick-time payout.

Is New Hampshire's paid-family-and-medical-leave plan the same thing?

No. The state PFML program is voluntary wage-replacement insurance and is outside this paid-sick-leave survey. It does not create a statewide sick-time accrual rule for every private employer.

Statutes and sources

• RSA 275:4. Employee definition incorporated into crime-victim leave. New Hampshire General Court (accessed August 16, 2026).
• RSA 275:49(III), (VI). Requires accessible written or posted sick-leave policies and three-year wage/hour records. New Hampshire General Court (accessed July 23, 2026).
• RSA 275:43(V). Makes sick pay wages when due under employment practice or policy. New Hampshire General Court (accessed July 23, 2026).
• RSA 275:61(III)-(V), RSA 275:62, RSA 275:63, and RSA 275:64. Define crime-victim-leave coverage and family, permit use of accrued paid sick time, govern proof/confidentiality/undue hardship, and prohibit discrimination. New Hampshire General Court (accessed July 23, 2026).
• RSA 275:44(I)-(IV), RSA 275:51(V), and RSA 275:53. Supply final-wage deadlines and wage-claim remedies when policy-created sick pay is due. New Hampshire General Court (accessed July 23, 2026).