Nebraska’s Paid Sick Time Law Explained

Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 436, which adopts the Nebraska Healthy Families and Workplaces Act. The act requires private employers to provide paid sick time to all employees, regardless of the size of the employer, beginning on Oct. 1, 2025.

Who Is Eligible for Paid Sick Time?

The new law applies to all employees who work in Nebraska for at least 80 hours in a calendar year. The only exceptions are for employees who are subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act and those employed by federal or state governments, state agencies, state departments, and political subdivisions. 

Accrual, Front-Loading, and Carryover

Under the act, employees are entitled to a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a cap. Employers with at least 20 employees must provide up to 56 hours of paid sick time per year. Employers with between one and 19 employees (including full-time, part-time, and temporary employees) must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick time per year.

Employers can either provide paid sick time on an accrual basis, or they can front-load the employee’s anticipated annual paid sick time accrual at the beginning of the year. Generally, accrued paid sick time will carry over from year to year. There is an option to pay out all unused paid sick time at the end of the year, but employers who choose to pay out instead of carry over employees’ unused accrued paid sick leave must provide those employees with the amount of paid sick leave that meets or exceeds the requirements of the statute for immediate use at the beginning of the year.  

Use of Paid Sick Time

Accrued paid sick time may be used for: 

• An employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, including diagnosis, treatment, and preventive care. 
• Care of a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, including diagnosis, treatment, and preventive care. In the case of a child, paid sick time may also be used to attend a meeting necessitated by the child’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, at a school or place where the child is receiving care. 
• In certain circumstances, public health emergencies or an employee’s (or an employee’s family member’s) exposure to a communicable disease.

Notice and Documentation

The act imposes restrictions on the notice, documentation, and information an employer can require from employees:

• Employees can orally request to use paid sick time.
• Employers may adopt reasonable procedures for employees to provide notice of the need to use paid sick time. However, the notice procedure must be in writing and provided to employees. 
• Employers cannot require employees to search for or find a replacement to cover their sick leave hours. 
• Employers can only require reasonable documentation to confirm the need for paid sick time if an employee misses more than three consecutive workdays. In situations where an employee or employee’s family member did not visit a health care provider during that time, the employee is specifically permitted by the act to provide their own written statement that the leave was taken for a qualifying reason.
• Employers cannot require employees to disclose details of the employee’s (or the employee’s family member’s) health information. 

Notice of employee rights under the act must be provided to employees and posted no later than Sept. 15, 2025, and thereafter at the commencement of employment. The Nebraska Department of Labor will publish model notices and posters for employers.

Employer Policies

Employers may be able to use existing paid leave policies to comply with the act, but they still must follow the act’s notice, documentation, and anti-retaliation provisions. It is unlikely that currently existing policies providing for a greater amount of paid sick time or general paid time off (PTO) will meet all those requirements without some revisions. As we have seen in other states with similar (or less onerous) requirements, some employers in Nebraska may choose to implement separate sick and vacation policies, if they don’t have them already, and carefully evaluate any unlimited PTO policies. The impact of Nebraska law requiring payout of unused PTO at termination should also be considered.

Employers should be on the lookout for more guidance from the state enforcement agency regarding how the law will be interpreted, including but not limited to the impact on employees who regularly work outside the state but occasionally perform work within the state.

Catherine A. Cano and Michaelle L. Baumert are attorneys with Jackson Lewis in Omaha, Neb. © 2024 Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.