Paid Sick Leave Requirements in South Carolina

At a glance

What South Carolina actually requires

South Carolina does not require any private employer to provide paid sick leave, earned paid leave, or any minimum amount of sick time. There is no accrual rate, annual entitlement, waiting period, carryover rule, list of qualifying reasons, or covered-family definition in state law, because there is no statewide sick-leave statute at all. Whether you get paid sick days, how many, and what you may use them for are set entirely by your employer's policy, your employment contract, or a collective bargaining agreement.

State law goes a step further and closes off the local route. S.C. Code § 41-1-25 lists "paid sick leave" as one of the "employee benefits" that a political subdivision — a city, county, school district, special-purpose district, or public-service district — "may not establish, mandate, or otherwise require." So a South Carolina city cannot adopt the kind of local paid-sick-leave ordinance that exists in some other states. The one carve-out, in subsection (C), lets a local government set benefits for its own employees; it does not reach private employers.

Repeated efforts to create a statewide mandate — including a "South Carolina Paid Sick Leave Act" (H. 3469) that would have added a new chapter to Title 41 — have been introduced but left to die in committee, so the answer remains no.

What trips people up

"No mandate" does not mean promised sick pay is unenforceable. If your employer does offer paid sick leave, the Payment of Wages Act treats it as wages. Section 41-10-10(2) defines "wages" to include "vacation, holiday, and sick leave payments which are due to an employee under any employer policy or employment contract." Once sick pay is earned and vested under the policy's own terms, it is money the law can help you collect.

A promised, unused balance can be owed when you leave. Under § 41-10-50, an employer that separates an employee must pay all wages due within 48 hours or by the next regular payday, which may not exceed 30 days. If the employer's policy makes accrued sick leave payable at separation, that balance falls within this deadline — but a policy that says unused sick time is forfeited on the last day generally means nothing is "due." Read the written policy closely: it decides whether the balance vests.

Enforcement runs through the wage law, not a sick-leave agency. The Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation investigates wage complaints, and § 41-10-80(C) lets an employee sue for three times the unpaid wages plus costs and attorney's fees, within three years. That remedy applies to promised sick pay that went unpaid — not to a demand for sick leave the employer never offered.

Common questions

Can my city or county require my employer to give paid sick days?

No. Section 41-1-25(B) bars every political subdivision from mandating an employee benefit, and it names paid sick leave specifically, so local ordinances cannot fill the gap.

If my employer offers paid sick leave, can it take the days away?

An employer generally may set or change its own policy going forward, since there is no statute fixing the terms. But sick pay already earned and "due" under the policy is treated as wages under § 41-10-10, so it cannot simply be erased once vested.

Do I get my unused sick days paid out when I quit or am fired?

Only if the employer's policy or contract makes them payable. If it does, that amount is wages due at separation under § 41-10-50; if the policy says unused time is forfeited, no payout is required.

Does any leave law protect me at all in South Carolina?

Yes, for specific situations outside ordinary illness: federal FMLA gives eligible employees of larger employers unpaid, job-protected leave, and § 41-1-70 protects an employee who serves on a jury or complies with a subpoena. Neither creates paid sick leave.

Statutes and sources

• S.C. Code § 41-1-25. Defines paid sick leave as an employee benefit and prohibits political subdivisions from mandating it. South Carolina Code of Laws (accessed July 23, 2026).
• S.C. Code §§ 41-10-10, 41-10-50, 41-10-80. Payment of Wages Act: "wages" include due sick-leave payments, separation-pay deadline, and treble-damages enforcement. South Carolina Code of Laws (accessed July 23, 2026).