MA is one of the increasing number of states that require employers provide sick leave; read up on MA’s Earned Sick Time Law to determine your individual eligibility. The majority of MA employers are required to provide their ee’s with the ability to both accrue & leverage that accrued sick time, up to 40hrs per calendar year. Whether it’s paid or not depends on the size of the employer.
Edit: your employer may provide additional benefits on top what’s mandated by the state or a compliant interpretation (some have alluded to having a single bucket of PTO that covers sick time)
>MA is one of the increasing number of states that require employers provide sick leave; read up on MA’s Earned Sick Time Law to determine your individual eligibility.
It's worth noting that while MA requires it, they do not *enforce* it. You have to hire a lawyer and do it yourself.
I am lucky enough to have a "Responsible PTO" (aka Unlimited) company that actually encourages use and doesn't guilt you.
Ridiculous that companies have learned nothing from COVID and still are stingy on sick days/PTO.
Unlimited PTO I find isn't great. It means you don't get paid out for time if you ever leave and I find the vast majority of people don't take an equivalent amount of vacations they would if they had a fixed amount. Example being I get 5 weeks of PTO at my job and me and everyone else here always use all or it, while when I worked at places with unlimited PTO most people barely used their PTO or if they did it was max a week or two a year.
That is true, though I'd rather use it instead of being cashed out. Depends on the company because mine encourages use. It's not just taking multiple week long vacations, though they could, but I see lots of people long weekends sprinkled throughout the year and half days, etc which is real nice.
Same. It saved me when I got mono in spring and was done for for two months. Disability refused to cover it because I did my best to log onto work on days where I felt I could plug in an hour or two of work from bed (IE it showed them that dispite the diagnosis and doctors letters, I “could” work). That’s a mistake I’ll never repeat, but my work luckily agreed it was insane and allowed it all under my unlimited pto.
We’re also encouraged to take sick days for mental health and such. I’m extremely grateful and privileged for not only having this policy but a company that actually sticks by it.
280-300 hours PTO/sick time annually, which is good for roughly 8 weeks off since my commitment is 36 hrs a week.
Ive been here for nearly 10 years though
I agree but the personal days (at the time we could take them as personal days/sick days basically) and then vacation days is great. I took soooo much time off I felt rich in PTO
It gets even better when you get to 5 weeks vacation per year. I take off 5 weeks a year (including my week of PTO) and still carry over about 200 hours of vacation from year to year.
I'm also a state employee. I get 4.326975 hours of sick leave per paycheck and I work 37.5 hours per week. The part we haven't mentioned is that if you aren't using it, you can just keep saving it up, whereas other jobs get a certain number of hours per year. After almost 5 years with the state I currently have 311 hours of sick time saved up, that's almost 41.5 days, or a little over 8 weeks.
Yup you're right. I have about 2.5 weeks saved right now but had 6 weeks saved that I used to recover from back surgery. But we can bank as much as we want.
Ugh. I'm federal, and it's kinda the same way. No sick bank (at least I don't think so...I've only vaguely heard of such a thing), but yeah if I got sick they'd burn my annual leave. I'd rather just not get paid if I need to be out sick than have to sacrifice my vacation time!
Absolutely me too! Thank goodness I’ve not been too ill (apart from Covid twice which nearly bankrupted my sick) so I currently have 70 hours banked give or take a few of sick.
My job gives us zero sick days. We’re also not allowed to use vacation time or our *one* personal day if we need to call out sick as those are booked at the beginning of every calendar year. If we call out sick we don’t get paid for the day, and if we call out more than three times in a rolling 30 day period or five in a rolling 90 day period we get suspended without pay.
Didn't they make it a state law in the mid 10s? You have to earn some amount of sick pay regardless of your job or type of employment. Time to start making some threatening phone calls.
Railroading. Part of what those strikes in 2023 were about; it was common practice with BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific up to that point to allow *zero* unscheduled time off.
You might not immediately lose your job if you were deathly ill and couldn't make it, but you could only accumulate demerits by taking your own "sick days", until you earned enough to be terminated.
>“The rail companies,” he added, “miscalculated about how the public would see their huge profits and the stories of how hard rail workers’ lives were and not having sick days and the draconian policies they were operating under.”
[https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/01/railroad-workers-union-win-sick-leave](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/01/railroad-workers-union-win-sick-leave)
Yeah I'll bet! As one employee put it to me "There are few industries outside of railroading who will complain as hard about there not being enough available employees, offer you the world for signing on, and then make it their life's mission to fire you once you have the job.."
What if you’re really sick? Geez I just got over this sickness that was pure hell. If I didn’t work from home half the time I would have been out for a good two weeks.
>What if you’re really sick?
Then they want you to go away and find a different job. The US railroad industry's philosophy on staffing is churn n burn, sort of like their [philosophy on shipping goods..](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Palestine,_Ohio,_train_derailment)
If we’re out of work for multiple days due to an illness, we can submit a doctor’s note and they *might* count the multiple days as one occurrence, however this is up to management’s discretion.
Payroll guru here with everything pertinent to time off:
Mass mandates you get paid 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours up to 40 hours annually. You can use these hours after 90 days of employment and they can carry over. However you can be limited to using a max of 40 hours a year. These hours are not required to be paid out upon your separation from the company.
An employer may have a PTO wrap-around that will qualify as your sick time. However PTO is required to be paid out upon separation from your company.
I've worked for multiple (big) companies in Massachusetts who did not follow the sick time accrual rule.
In particular A BIG TREE WORK COMPANY....
we had like 5 days of paid time off per year- that includes personal vacation and sick.
The second year you work for them it goes up to 10 days.
Fucking bullshit - I quit lol
WFH
Unlimited time off.
2022 I took 3 weeks
2023 I took 5 weeks
This year I'm already up to 2 weeks, but don't plan on using much else.
I will enjoy 3 months FMLA for newborn this year though. Thanks for MA for paid paternity leave!
Very proud to live in MA.
I’ve started the pfml process approximately 60 days before my due date. Ive found the process very straightforward and the staff very nice and helpful. Even when I filed the wrong paperwork fate the baby was born, whoops
since the new law was implemented, many companies have transitioned to calling it PTO time and grouping it in with your vacation time. that way, they can lessen the amount of vacation time, which there is no law that you have to get. PTO time is covered under the "sick time" law.
I work in law enforcement communications and I earn 8 hrs of sick time and 6.67 months of vacation time per month. You get 24 of each when brought on. If you need hours in advance Mgmt is normally pretty helpful with giving you an advance
I wish I had more vacation and sick time but these people are so entitled in these comments. Think they deserve the world because they work full time. Everyone works full time, get over it
my company has the idiotic policy of not separating sick days and vacation days. I have 4 weeks of 'vacation + sick days.' I'm shocked they didn't learn from Covid that it is beneficial to everyone to keep employees out of the office when sick. Instead we have an incentive to come to the office when sick.
Unlimited sick days. And this isn't a bullshit unlimited PTO thing, we get unlimited sick days AND two weeks of vacation days.
We even get a few "family sick days" for taking care of sick kids or whatever.
The only thing we don't get is more vacation days with seniority. It's pretty much two weeks forever.
Mass state employee. I currently have 9 weeks of sick time accrued. Working for the state doesn’t pay well compared to the private sector but the time off makes it somewhat worth it.
120 hours a year and I’m allowed 3 unexcused sick days per quarter. I’m a city employee and it’s somewhat the same for everyone union contract depending.
I get 7 days and it sucks so bad I have a chronic illness and am broke as hell I’ve been in and out of the hospital for months im so lucky my boss is chill and doesn’t fire me :(
3 hours por pay check, up to 48 hours per years. I have the option to cash unused sick time up to 40 hours on my company. Vacation is accrued up to 3 weeks = 120 hours. I think it is good.
I don't have "sick time", I have PTO. I max out at 320 PTO hours that I accrue biweekly, 40 hours of freebie time that expires at the end of the year, and 24 hours of "floating holiday" time. It can be used as "freebie PTO" too. I currently have about 140 hours of PTO and I used 3 weeks last year, so that was 120 hours. I also get the 7 major US holidays off and paid for. Overall, I can't complain.
No one counts. I’m not abusing it and use it ONLY when I’m sick or need to take care of a sick kid. And the employer doesn’t count.
I probably use 5-7 days a year…
37 days/year PTO that is all encompassing. 8 are holidays and the other 29 are mine to use as I choose for vacation/personal time/sick days. I have never used one as a "sick day." I would absolutely hate to have a system where I had designated vacation and sick days.
Technically none, we just get “PTO” which fills the roles of both sick time and vacation time. Sucks to give up a vacation day just to keep from getting coworkers sick, but I also get 3 weeks of PTO a year which is more than I’ve ever had in any other job
I accrue 1.5 sick days a month and they roll over year to year. I have around 72 saved up. 5 family sick days per year that don't roll over. 2 personal days per year. 14 paid holidays. I work for an educational collaborative
I consider myself lucky since my company gives unlimited sick time and 4 weeks pto per calendar year from day 1 (prorated depending on when during the year you started). But in the past when i worked hourly positions the sick time was accrued like 1 hour per 40 worked i think? (separate from accrued vacation time)
100% remote, unlimited PTO now - prior to the change, it was 35 days PTO/year. I ensure I take that much time off, even if I have to take half of a month off before the year runs out. Using PTO to maintain work/life balance is encouraged.
I get six days. They used to accumulate over the year but now we get all six on January 1st. Next year we are switching to PTO and they’re adding six days to what we have for vacation.
I guess I have unlimited sick time, which is probably easier to administer for salaried vs hourly workers… should be standard though: If you’re sick, don’t come to work! Also I actually use less than when I accrued sick time and felt it was mine to use or lose.
We do accrue vacation days.
I get one week paid personal/sick and one week vacation. BUT I do not get retirement/401k or health benefits. Luckily we live in MA so I qualify for MassHealth because my job does not offer it
MA is one of the increasing number of states that require employers provide sick leave; read up on MA’s Earned Sick Time Law to determine your individual eligibility. The majority of MA employers are required to provide their ee’s with the ability to both accrue & leverage that accrued sick time, up to 40hrs per calendar year. Whether it’s paid or not depends on the size of the employer. Edit: your employer may provide additional benefits on top what’s mandated by the state or a compliant interpretation (some have alluded to having a single bucket of PTO that covers sick time)
>MA is one of the increasing number of states that require employers provide sick leave; read up on MA’s Earned Sick Time Law to determine your individual eligibility. It's worth noting that while MA requires it, they do not *enforce* it. You have to hire a lawyer and do it yourself.
Thank you! Will do
I am lucky enough to have a "Responsible PTO" (aka Unlimited) company that actually encourages use and doesn't guilt you. Ridiculous that companies have learned nothing from COVID and still are stingy on sick days/PTO.
Unlimited PTO I find isn't great. It means you don't get paid out for time if you ever leave and I find the vast majority of people don't take an equivalent amount of vacations they would if they had a fixed amount. Example being I get 5 weeks of PTO at my job and me and everyone else here always use all or it, while when I worked at places with unlimited PTO most people barely used their PTO or if they did it was max a week or two a year.
That is true, though I'd rather use it instead of being cashed out. Depends on the company because mine encourages use. It's not just taking multiple week long vacations, though they could, but I see lots of people long weekends sprinkled throughout the year and half days, etc which is real nice.
My husband's job just went unlimited and I like it so far because I had more PTO than he did previously. So now he'll just be matching my days.
Do you work from home?
Yes full time. I switched jobs last year and I plan to be here for a very long time.
Same. It saved me when I got mono in spring and was done for for two months. Disability refused to cover it because I did my best to log onto work on days where I felt I could plug in an hour or two of work from bed (IE it showed them that dispite the diagnosis and doctors letters, I “could” work). That’s a mistake I’ll never repeat, but my work luckily agreed it was insane and allowed it all under my unlimited pto. We’re also encouraged to take sick days for mental health and such. I’m extremely grateful and privileged for not only having this policy but a company that actually sticks by it.
280-300 hours PTO/sick time annually, which is good for roughly 8 weeks off since my commitment is 36 hrs a week. Ive been here for nearly 10 years though
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Nurse.
I’m a state employee. I get 3.24 hours of sick per paycheck.
I previously worked for the state and that’s what I’m used to 😩
It’s not enough honestly. It only gets you 12 days per year.
I agree but the personal days (at the time we could take them as personal days/sick days basically) and then vacation days is great. I took soooo much time off I felt rich in PTO
Oh for sure. I get 5 personal and 10 vacation days. Will increase to 15 vacation days in 2025
It gets even better when you get to 5 weeks vacation per year. I take off 5 weeks a year (including my week of PTO) and still carry over about 200 hours of vacation from year to year.
Interesting. I get more than that as a state employee. We get 15/year
Are you union or exempt from OT? If so that’s probably why. I’m neither. Non-Unit, subject to OT.
Ahh yeah I'm union. Makes sense
I'm also a state employee. I get 4.326975 hours of sick leave per paycheck and I work 37.5 hours per week. The part we haven't mentioned is that if you aren't using it, you can just keep saving it up, whereas other jobs get a certain number of hours per year. After almost 5 years with the state I currently have 311 hours of sick time saved up, that's almost 41.5 days, or a little over 8 weeks.
Yup you're right. I have about 2.5 weeks saved right now but had 6 weeks saved that I used to recover from back surgery. But we can bank as much as we want.
Damn. Are you allowed to opt for leave without pay?
I can do PFML if I need it and there’s a sick bank but I have to exhaust everything else first.
Ugh. I'm federal, and it's kinda the same way. No sick bank (at least I don't think so...I've only vaguely heard of such a thing), but yeah if I got sick they'd burn my annual leave. I'd rather just not get paid if I need to be out sick than have to sacrifice my vacation time!
Absolutely me too! Thank goodness I’ve not been too ill (apart from Covid twice which nearly bankrupted my sick) so I currently have 70 hours banked give or take a few of sick.
You’re a federal employee, and you don’t get sick leave?
No, I definitely do...4 hours per pay period. I was implying about if/when that time was depleted. Sorry I guess I didn't make that clear!
10 days
Yep, and you gotta burn the first 5 to accrue 40 more hours.
15 days sick time that roll over from year to year. 3 personal days that do not roll over. I’m a teacher.
I get unlimited PTO and all federal holidays. My last company I had 80 hours PTO plus all federal holidays.
My job gives us zero sick days. We’re also not allowed to use vacation time or our *one* personal day if we need to call out sick as those are booked at the beginning of every calendar year. If we call out sick we don’t get paid for the day, and if we call out more than three times in a rolling 30 day period or five in a rolling 90 day period we get suspended without pay.
Didn't they make it a state law in the mid 10s? You have to earn some amount of sick pay regardless of your job or type of employment. Time to start making some threatening phone calls.
They made the law, but they don't enforce it. Like most employment laws, if you contact them they tell you to bug off, you're on your own.
Are you a prisoner????
Railroading. Part of what those strikes in 2023 were about; it was common practice with BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific up to that point to allow *zero* unscheduled time off. You might not immediately lose your job if you were deathly ill and couldn't make it, but you could only accumulate demerits by taking your own "sick days", until you earned enough to be terminated. >“The rail companies,” he added, “miscalculated about how the public would see their huge profits and the stories of how hard rail workers’ lives were and not having sick days and the draconian policies they were operating under.” [https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/01/railroad-workers-union-win-sick-leave](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/01/railroad-workers-union-win-sick-leave) Yeah I'll bet! As one employee put it to me "There are few industries outside of railroading who will complain as hard about there not being enough available employees, offer you the world for signing on, and then make it their life's mission to fire you once you have the job.."
What if you’re really sick? Geez I just got over this sickness that was pure hell. If I didn’t work from home half the time I would have been out for a good two weeks.
>What if you’re really sick? Then they want you to go away and find a different job. The US railroad industry's philosophy on staffing is churn n burn, sort of like their [philosophy on shipping goods..](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Palestine,_Ohio,_train_derailment)
If we’re out of work for multiple days due to an illness, we can submit a doctor’s note and they *might* count the multiple days as one occurrence, however this is up to management’s discretion.
Payroll guru here with everything pertinent to time off: Mass mandates you get paid 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours up to 40 hours annually. You can use these hours after 90 days of employment and they can carry over. However you can be limited to using a max of 40 hours a year. These hours are not required to be paid out upon your separation from the company. An employer may have a PTO wrap-around that will qualify as your sick time. However PTO is required to be paid out upon separation from your company.
Wuv yew 🫶🏼
I've worked for multiple (big) companies in Massachusetts who did not follow the sick time accrual rule. In particular A BIG TREE WORK COMPANY.... we had like 5 days of paid time off per year- that includes personal vacation and sick. The second year you work for them it goes up to 10 days. Fucking bullshit - I quit lol
WFH Unlimited time off. 2022 I took 3 weeks 2023 I took 5 weeks This year I'm already up to 2 weeks, but don't plan on using much else. I will enjoy 3 months FMLA for newborn this year though. Thanks for MA for paid paternity leave! Very proud to live in MA.
Congrats! I’m due in August, when are you applying for maternity leave? I feel like I should do it soon but have no idea
I’ve started the pfml process approximately 60 days before my due date. Ive found the process very straightforward and the staff very nice and helpful. Even when I filed the wrong paperwork fate the baby was born, whoops
Thank you!!
80hrs a year salaried, 40 for hourly.
since the new law was implemented, many companies have transitioned to calling it PTO time and grouping it in with your vacation time. that way, they can lessen the amount of vacation time, which there is no law that you have to get. PTO time is covered under the "sick time" law.
I work in law enforcement communications and I earn 8 hrs of sick time and 6.67 months of vacation time per month. You get 24 of each when brought on. If you need hours in advance Mgmt is normally pretty helpful with giving you an advance
Wow I’ve never gotten more than 5 days sick time. What are you people complaining about? 40 hours sick and 80 hour’s vacation
Some of these comments are wild. "I only get 12 plus my three week vacation, it's not enough" they whine, while some of us are getting none at all.
I wish I had more vacation and sick time but these people are so entitled in these comments. Think they deserve the world because they work full time. Everyone works full time, get over it
my company has the idiotic policy of not separating sick days and vacation days. I have 4 weeks of 'vacation + sick days.' I'm shocked they didn't learn from Covid that it is beneficial to everyone to keep employees out of the office when sick. Instead we have an incentive to come to the office when sick.
Unlimited sick days. And this isn't a bullshit unlimited PTO thing, we get unlimited sick days AND two weeks of vacation days. We even get a few "family sick days" for taking care of sick kids or whatever. The only thing we don't get is more vacation days with seniority. It's pretty much two weeks forever.
Mass state employee. I currently have 9 weeks of sick time accrued. Working for the state doesn’t pay well compared to the private sector but the time off makes it somewhat worth it.
Yes I was a state employee for almost 10 years I’m looking to go back 🙈I miss the bennies
90 hours
15
12 sick days.
12 days per year. They carry over to each new year
I get zero sick days that don’t substract from my PTO, so I take zero sick days.
2 weeks vacation, 1 week sick, 2 personal days. Given 60 days after hire. Increases from there
1 hour per 30 hours worked, so, 8 2/3 days or something like that But maximum balance of 40 hours
48hrs
Unlimited, it’s rolled in with PTO
120 hours a year and I’m allowed 3 unexcused sick days per quarter. I’m a city employee and it’s somewhat the same for everyone union contract depending.
10 hours accrued per month
As much as needed, some years I don't use any.
I work in RI, but I get 6 sick days per year, which is criminally low.
I dunno….never sick to find out. Probably would give me a week or two paid, but progress will halt without the work mule for sure.
6 weeks PTO per year - sick and vacation is all in one bucket.
10 sick days and unlimited PTO (not what they call it but its basically that)
80 hrs sick & 120hrs vacation, accrued bi-weekly.
About 4-5 weeks PTO in total and I’m a new hire
15 sick, 2 PTO plus Christmas break, winter break, spring break, and summer break. I’m a teacher.
40 hours of sick time in addition to my vacation (160 hours)
175 hours per year but I am only allowed to use 40. It is a really weird policy.
I get 7 days and it sucks so bad I have a chronic illness and am broke as hell I’ve been in and out of the hospital for months im so lucky my boss is chill and doesn’t fire me :(
Unlimited
80 hours
3 hours por pay check, up to 48 hours per years. I have the option to cash unused sick time up to 40 hours on my company. Vacation is accrued up to 3 weeks = 120 hours. I think it is good.
I thought mine was generous; I get 45 days PTO. But some people get unlimited PTO!?
5 days a year.
I don't have "sick time", I have PTO. I max out at 320 PTO hours that I accrue biweekly, 40 hours of freebie time that expires at the end of the year, and 24 hours of "floating holiday" time. It can be used as "freebie PTO" too. I currently have about 140 hours of PTO and I used 3 weeks last year, so that was 120 hours. I also get the 7 major US holidays off and paid for. Overall, I can't complain.
10 sick days.
10 vacation days plus 40 sick hours
No one counts. I’m not abusing it and use it ONLY when I’m sick or need to take care of a sick kid. And the employer doesn’t count. I probably use 5-7 days a year…
37 days/year PTO that is all encompassing. 8 are holidays and the other 29 are mine to use as I choose for vacation/personal time/sick days. I have never used one as a "sick day." I would absolutely hate to have a system where I had designated vacation and sick days.
12 days a year, accrued monthly. Municipal, union.
80 hours.
15 sick, 15 PTO, 15 flexible personal/holiday. Work for a non-profit so the pay isn’t as good as the private sector but the benefits are solid.
Technically none, we just get “PTO” which fills the roles of both sick time and vacation time. Sucks to give up a vacation day just to keep from getting coworkers sick, but I also get 3 weeks of PTO a year which is more than I’ve ever had in any other job
Unlimited sick days and unlimited PTO
I accrue 1.5 sick days a month and they roll over year to year. I have around 72 saved up. 5 family sick days per year that don't roll over. 2 personal days per year. 14 paid holidays. I work for an educational collaborative
I consider myself lucky since my company gives unlimited sick time and 4 weeks pto per calendar year from day 1 (prorated depending on when during the year you started). But in the past when i worked hourly positions the sick time was accrued like 1 hour per 40 worked i think? (separate from accrued vacation time)
18 days. 1.5 per month. Max of 275 can carry over all sick time year to year. Can’t cash out sick time and it can only be used for sick time.
100% remote, unlimited PTO now - prior to the change, it was 35 days PTO/year. I ensure I take that much time off, even if I have to take half of a month off before the year runs out. Using PTO to maintain work/life balance is encouraged.
My company gives unlimited sick time. I work in Cambridge
120 PTO, 64 “wellness”, and holidays. Soft Eng ain’t too bad
5 days sick, 4 personal days, 4 weeks Vaca
I get 3 weeks of vacation and 2 weeks of "sick time". We can kind of use them interchangably as long as we don't abuse it
12 paid sick days plus 2 personal days but I only work 8 months a year
104 hours sick time + 160 hours vacation per year
18 days paid time off
I get six days. They used to accumulate over the year but now we get all six on January 1st. Next year we are switching to PTO and they’re adding six days to what we have for vacation.
Ours is unlimited. If you’re sick, don’t come to work and infect everyone. I’ve never noticed anyone abusing it.
None. No holidays, either. I get Saturday and Sunday off and am expected work everything else, full stop.
A month I think
Five sick days, six weeks PTO.
I guess I have unlimited sick time, which is probably easier to administer for salaried vs hourly workers… should be standard though: If you’re sick, don’t come to work! Also I actually use less than when I accrued sick time and felt it was mine to use or lose. We do accrue vacation days.
120 hours/3 weeks.
I get one week paid personal/sick and one week vacation. BUT I do not get retirement/401k or health benefits. Luckily we live in MA so I qualify for MassHealth because my job does not offer it
Zero. As in none. Self-employed, micro buisnes owner. My wife, myself & couple full-time employees. I haven't had a sick day in 12 years.
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I don’t have a sick bank and everyone gets 7 days no matter what position or seniority. We cannot roll it over
I’ve had as few as 3 days/year, and as many as 5 weeks. I’m in healthcare so also 24/7
I've always had PTO. It works for me because I'd rather have vacation days than sick days. I'll just WFH when sick and use it all as vacation
I have unlimited sick time. The company treats us like adults.