Vermont: Paid Sick Leave Requirements
The short answer
Vermont's Earned Sick Time Act requires nearly all employers to let employees earn paid sick time — one hour for every 52 hours worked, which an employer may cap at 40 hours a year. It is used for the employee's or a family member's health, safety, or a covered closure, paid at the employee's regular or the minimum wage. Unused time carries over but need not be paid out at separation.
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This is the general rule in Vermont. Ezel applies current Vermont law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and local interaction | Vermont Earned Sick Time Act, 21 V.S.A. §§ 481–486 (Act 69 of 2016), in force since Jan. 1, 2017 (small employers since Jan. 1, 2018). Sets a statewide paid earned-sick-time floor; an employer may be more generous, and a policy or CBA may not diminish these rights (§ 484(e)). Amended by 2023 Act 85 (eff. July 1, 2024) and 2025 Act 18 (eff. May 13, 2025). |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee coverage | All employers doing business in or operating within Vermont, any size (§ 481(1)); a new employer is exempt for one year after its first hire. A covered employee works an average of at least 18 hours per week; excluded are federal employees, workers under 18, short-term (20-weeks-or-fewer) and per-diem/intermittent workers, certain substitute educators and exempt state employees, per-diem health-care-facility staff, and owner-officers excluded from workers' comp (§ 481(5)). |
| Accrual and annual entitlement | One hour of earned sick time per 52 hours worked (§ 482(a)); accrual begins at hire or when the employer becomes covered. An employer may impose up to a one-year use waiting period for a new hire, during which time still accrues but cannot be used (§ 482(b)). Annual accrual may be capped at 40 hours in a 12-month period (§ 482(c)). |
| Frontloading, caps, and carryover | An employer may frontload the full annual amount at the start of each annual period; if it does, unused time need not carry over (§ 484(a)(2)). Otherwise unused earned sick time carries over and accrual continues into the next year (§ 483(d)(1)), though annual use may still be capped at 40 hours (§ 483(c)). A discretionary year-end payout of unused time removes that amount from carryover (§ 483(d)(2)). |
| Qualifying uses and family | The employee's own illness or injury; diagnostic, preventive, routine, or therapeutic health care; care for a covered family member; domestic-violence, sexual-assault, or stalking services or relocation; and a family member's school or business closing for public health or safety (§ 483(a)). Family covers parent, grandparent, spouse, child, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandchild, and foster child. |
| Requests, notice, documentation, and increments | A request may be informal, but an employer may require reasonable efforts not to schedule routine care during work hours and notice as soon as practicable of the intent and expected duration (§ 483(h)). An employer may not require the employee to find a replacement worker (§ 483(g)). The smallest use increment is whatever the payroll system uses for other absences, but need not be under one hour (§ 483(b)); the Act sets no documentation requirement. |
| Pay, payout, reinstatement, and records | Earned sick time is paid at the greater of the employee's normal hourly wage or the Vermont minimum wage, and group insurance continues during use (§ 482(d)). Unused time need not be paid at separation unless agreed (§ 483(e)). An employee discharged and rehired by the same employer within 12 months resumes accrual and use without a new waiting period, though the prior balance is restored only if agreed (§ 483(f)). |
| Posting, retaliation, enforcement, and remedies | The employer must post notice of these provisions in a conspicuous place and tell each employee of them at hire (§ 483(j)). Retaliation is prohibited (§ 483(l), applying 21 V.S.A. § 397), and a violation is subject to the penalty provisions of 21 V.S.A. § 345, enforced by the Commissioner of Labor under § 342a (§ 483(m)–(n)). |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law
Vermont's Earned Sick Time Act, 21 V.S.A. §§ 481–486, has required paid earned
sick time since January 1, 2017 (small employers came in on January 1, 2018).
The law sets a floor: an employer may always be more generous, but a paid-time-off
policy or collective bargaining agreement "may not diminish the rights provided
by this subchapter" (§ 484(e)). The Legislature amended the Act in 2024 and again
in 2025, but the core numbers below are unchanged.
Who is covered
The duty falls on "any" employer doing business in or operating within Vermont,
regardless of size (§ 481(1)). A brand-new employer gets a one-year grace period
after hiring its first worker. A covered "employee" is someone who works an
average of at least 18 hours per week during a year. The Act then lists who is
not an employee (§ 481(5)): federal workers, anyone under 18, short-term
workers hired for 20 weeks or fewer, per-diem or intermittent workers, certain
substitute educators, some exempt state employees, per-diem health-care-facility
staff, and business owners or officers excluded from workers' compensation.
Accrual and the 40-hour cap
Employees earn one hour of sick time for every 52 hours worked (§ 482(a)).
Accrual starts at hire (or when the employer becomes covered), but an employer
may impose a waiting period of up to one year before a new hire may use the
time — the hours still accrue during that period (§ 482(b)). An employer may cap
accrual at 40 hours in a 12-month period (§ 482(c)).
Frontloading and carryover
Instead of tracking accrual, an employer may hand over the full annual amount at
the start of each annual period; if it does, the time does not have to carry over
(§ 484(a)(2)). Under the accrual method, unused earned sick time carries into the
next year and keeps accruing (§ 483(d)(1)), although the employer may still limit
use to 40 hours a year (§ 483(c)). If the employer chooses to cash out unused
time at year-end, that paid-out amount does not carry over (§ 483(d)(2)).
Pay and separation
Sick time is paid at the greater of the employee's normal hourly wage or the
Vermont minimum wage, and group health coverage continues during the leave
(§ 482(d)). Vermont does not require unused sick time to be paid out when a job
ends "unless agreed upon by the employer" (§ 483(e)).
What trips people up
Carrying over hours does not mean using more of them. Unused time carries
into the next year, but the employer's 40-hour annual use cap still applies
(§ 483(c), (d)(1)). Carryover protects a balance across a slow year; it does not
raise the yearly ceiling.
A single PTO bank can satisfy the Act — but only if it is at least as good.
An employer with a combined paid-time-off policy or CBA complies only if the
policy may be used for every reason in § 483(a) and accrues and is usable at a
rate equal to or greater than the statute (§ 484(a)). A bank that limits reasons,
accrues more slowly, or blocks carryover does not comply.
Rehire rules turn on how you left. An employee discharged and rehired by the
same employer within 12 months skips a new waiting period, but the old balance
returns only if the employer agrees; an employee who quit and returns within 12
months can be made to serve a waiting period again unless the employer agrees
otherwise (§ 483(f)).
Common questions
Can my employer make me find someone to cover my shift?
No. Section 483(g) bars an employer from requiring you to find a replacement
worker as a condition of using earned sick time.
In what size chunks can I take the time?
The smallest increment your employer's payroll system uses for other absences —
but the employer never has to let you take less than one hour at a time
(§ 483(b)).
Do I get paid for unused sick time when I leave?
Only if your employer agreed to it. The Act does not require a payout of unused
earned sick time at separation (§ 483(e)).
Can I use sick time to care for a family member or after domestic violence?
Yes. You may use it to care for a covered family member, and to obtain services
or care related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking for yourself or
a covered family member (§ 483(a)(3)–(4)).
Statutes and sources
- 21 V.S.A. 481. Defines covered employers (any size, doing business in
Vermont) and employees (average 18+ hours/week), with the exclusion list.
Section 481
(accessed July 23, 2026). - 21 V.S.A. 482. Accrual of one hour per 52 hours worked, up to a one-year
waiting period, a 40-hour accrual cap, and pay at the greater of the normal or
minimum wage.
Section 482
(accessed July 23, 2026). - 21 V.S.A. 483. Qualifying uses and family, carryover, no separation payout
unless agreed, no-replacement-worker rule, notice, increments, and posting.
Section 483
(accessed July 23, 2026). - 21 V.S.A. 484. How a paid-time-off policy or CBA satisfies the Act, and the
rule that a policy may not diminish these rights.
Section 484
(accessed July 23, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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