• Federal contractors with covered contracts awarded on or after January 1, 2017, must provide employees with up to seven days of sick leave per year.

Executive order 13706 and its implementing regulations require federal contractors (with covered contracts solicited and awarded on or after January 1, 2017), to provide up to seven days per year of paid sick leave to employees.

Contractors are not required to amend their existing paid time off (PTO) policies if they provide employees with at least the same rights and benefits as required by the regulations. For instance, if a contractor’s policy provides employees with 100 hours of PTO that can be used for any purpose, separate paid sick leave need not be required.

Accrual

Employers with covered contracts must provide:

• One hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked on or in connection with a covered federal contract; OR
• At least 56 hours of paid sick leave at the beginning of each accrual year.

Hours worked

Employers may assume, where records of employees’ hours are not required to be kept (such as in the case of employees exempt from overtime), that such employees are working on or in connection with the federal contract for 40 hours each week. Estimates of hours worked are also acceptable, as long as they are reasonable.

Notification

Employees must be notified in writing of the amount of paid sick leave they have available at the end of each pay period or each month (whichever is shorter).

Limits on leave

Contractors may limit the accrual of leave to 56 hours each year, but must allow accrued, unused leave from one year to the next. Contractors may also cap leave at 56 hours.

Employees must be allowed to use leave in increments as small as one hour.

Rehired employees

Where an employee leaves employment but is rehired within 12 months, the contractor must reinstate the employee’s accrued, unused paid sick leave if rehired (by the same contractor) within 12 months after job separation. This requirement does not apply if the contractor paid the employee out for accrued, unused paid sick leave upon separation.

Reasons for leave

Contractors must allow the use of leave for the following reasons related to the employee or the employee’s child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, or any other individual related by blood or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship:

• Physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition of the employee;
• To obtain diagnosis, care, or preventive care from a health care provider by the employee;
• Reasons related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, including obtaining counseling, seeking relocation, taking legal action, or the purposes described in (1) and (2).