South Dakota: Paid Sick Leave Requirements
The short answer
No. South Dakota does not require private employers to provide paid sick leave or earned paid leave. Any sick-time benefit — its accrual, use, carryover, documentation, pay, and payout — comes from the employer's policy, contract, or collective bargaining agreement. South Dakota also has no statute requiring unused sick leave or vacation to be paid out when a job ends; that is owed only if the employer's own policy promises it.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in South Dakota. Ezel applies current South Dakota law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and local interaction | No statewide private-sector paid sick leave or earned paid leave mandate. Labor and Employment (SDCL Title 60) covers employment terms, employer/employee obligations, termination, wages/hours/conditions (ch. 60-11), unions, and child labor, but no chapter creates a sick-leave benefit. State law is silent on local sick-leave ordinances, so any city or county rule would need separate review. A 2018 paid-sick-leave bill (SB 120) was deferred and did not pass. |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee coverage | No general 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; federal FMLA, workers' compensation, and other named programs 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 statutory vacation or PTO payout. Wage-payment chapter 60-11 contains no leave-payout provision, so unused sick leave is paid out only if the employer's policy or contract promises it. Final wages for hours worked are due by the next regular payday after separation, whether the employee is discharged or quits (SDCL §§ 60-11-10, 60-11-11). |
| Posting, retaliation, enforcement, and remedies | No paid-sick-leave poster, individual notice, retaliation rule, or penalty scheme. Once wages or a promised benefit are due, the wage-payment chapter (SDCL ch. 60-11) and the Department of Labor and Regulation supply general enforcement; other laws supply their own remedies. |
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What South Dakota actually requires
South Dakota does not require an ordinary private employer to provide paid sick
leave or earned paid leave. Title 60, the state's labor and employment code,
covers employment terms, employer and employee obligations, termination, wages
and hours (chapter 60-11), labor unions, and child labor, but none of its
chapters creates a sick-leave benefit. South Dakota also has no paid family or
medical leave program. A 2018 bill that would have required a minimum amount of
paid sick leave (SB 120) was deferred in committee and never became law.
Because there is no statewide floor, sick time in South Dakota is whatever the
employer's handbook, employment agreement, or collective bargaining agreement
provides. That document decides whether sick leave exists, who earns it, how it
accrues, when it may be used, whether unused time carries over, what notice or
proof is required, and whether anything is paid out at the end of employment.
South Dakota 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
Unused sick leave and vacation do not have to be paid out. South Dakota's
wage-payment chapter contains no vacation, PTO, or sick-leave payout provision.
An employer owes a payout only if its own policy, handbook, or contract promises
one, and that promise is enforced as an ordinary agreement rather than as a
statutory wage right.
Final wages for hours worked still have a deadline. Whether an employee is
separated by the employer or quits, wages earned for hours worked are due by the
next regular payday — or, if later, as soon as the employee returns any employer
property still in their possession (SDCL §§ 60-11-10, 60-11-11). That deadline
governs earned wages, not a discretionary leave balance.
Common questions
Must a South Dakota employer give paid sick days?
No. South Dakota sets no private-sector paid-sick-leave minimum. Any number of
paid sick days comes from the employer's policy, contract, or collective
bargaining agreement.
Do I get paid for unused sick leave when I leave?
Not unless the employer's policy provides it. South Dakota has no statute
requiring a payout of unused sick leave or vacation at separation.
Can an employer use a use-it-or-lose-it sick policy?
Yes. South Dakota has no statute limiting carryover of an employer-created sick
benefit, so a policy may cap accrual or expire unused time, subject to any other
law that applies to a particular absence.
Can a South Dakota city require paid sick leave?
South Dakota 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
- SDCL Title 60 (Labor and Employment), chapter index. The code's chapters
cover employment terms, obligations, termination, wages and hours, unions, and
child labor, but none creates a paid-sick-leave benefit. South Dakota
Division of Labor & Management, Labor and Employment Laws
2025–2026
(accessed July 23, 2026). - SDCL § 60-11-10. Wages due on employer-initiated separation by the next
regular payday, subject to return of employer property. South Dakota
Legislature (accessed
July 23, 2026). - SDCL § 60-11-11. Wages due on an employee's resignation by the next
regular payday, subject to return of employer property. South Dakota
Legislature (accessed
July 23, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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