Paid leave rules for shop staff in 3 states

Key takeaways

• Illinois: the Paid Leave for All Workers Act is the statute your Illinois schedule has to satisfy, and certain worker categories are not covered by it.
• California: from January 1, 2024 the minimum is 5 days or 40 hours of paid sick leave, and an employee who works 10-hour days can use at least 50 hours.
• Washington: staff earn leave as they work, wait a set number of days before using it, and keep their balance if they leave and return within 12 months.
• Schedules: your rota, your point-of-sale login and your closing shift all sit downstream of whichever state your shop sits in.
• Documentation: each agency publishes a page on its rules. Start there before you change anything staff can see.

TL;DR

• Illinois runs a statewide paid leave law with some worker categories excluded ( Illinois Department of Labor).
• California's floor changed on January 1, 2024: employers there must generally give 5 days or 40 hours of paid sick leave ( California Department of Industrial Relations).
• Washington builds leave hour by hour, with a waiting period before staff can use it ( Washington State Department of Labor & Industries).
• Read each state's agency page before the next schedule goes up.

Why three states mean three schedules

You set the rota. You decide who counts stock on Thursday, who covers the register on Saturday, and who closes the till. Paid leave changes that picture, because a call-out now has money attached to it on both sides.

Illinois, California and Washington each publish their own rules. Washington sets accrual at 1 hour for every 40 hours worked, with a 90-calendar-day wait. California sets a floor of 5 days or 40 hours. Illinois points to its own statute. A shop that already runs in more than one state is really running three leave policies.

The good news is that all three states keep their rules on public agency pages. You can read them yourself. You do not need a lawyer to start, and you do not need to guess.

The rest of this post walks each state's page in your terms: what the rule is, how it lands on a schedule, and what to check before your next roster goes up.

Illinois: one statewide act, with stated carve-outs

The Illinois Department of Labor publishes the Paid Leave for All Workers Act page, which points you to the statute itself, "820 ILCS 192/Paid Leave for All Workers Act". That is the law your Illinois shops fall under.

The same page notes that "There are certain categories of workers that are not subject to the law." So your first move in Illinois is not to count hours. It is to check whether each person on your roster falls inside the covered group or outside it.

Once you know who is covered, the practical work is scheduling. Paid leave under the Act sits on top of the rota you already publish. A closer who calls out and uses leave still needs their shift covered. Your coverage plan should assume the call-out happens.

For a shop with one store, that means your call-out list should name a second closer, not just a standby. For a shop with two locations, it means leave taken at one store does not quietly vanish from the other store's budget.

If any worker on your Illinois roster looks like they might sit in one of the excluded categories, ask the Department of Labor directly. The page names the Act; the agency can confirm how it applies to your specific role.

California: five days or forty hours from 2024

California's rule set is published in the California Paid Sick Leave: Frequently Asked Questions page. It states a clear start date and a clear minimum.

Starting January 1, 2024, an employer must generally provide 5 days or 40 hours of paid sick leave to employees in California. Before that date, an employer could limit use to 24 hours or three days in a year. The floor moved.

The day count and the hour count are not always the same thing. An employer must allow an employee to use at least five days or 40 hours, whichever is more. That phrasing matters when your staff work longer shifts.

The page gives the arithmetic itself: if an employee works 10-hour days, the employee is entitled to use at least 50 hours of paid sick leave. Five 10-hour days is 50 hours, and 50 beats 40. So the higher figure governs.

This is where a shop schedule gets interesting. If your California closer works a 10-hour shift twice a week, the hours add up faster than a 5-day headline suggests. Your leave balance in the payroll system should track the hour figure, not the day headline. For more on long closing shifts, see closing-time hours and overtime pay checks.

If your team works shorter shifts, the 40-hour side of the test can bind instead. Run your own roster through both numbers before you set the accrual rate in your payroll tool.

Washington: earn as you work, use after a wait

Washington's rules live on the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries Paid Sick Leave page. The model there is accrual-based.

Employees earn leave at a fixed ratio to hours worked. The page states the ratio plainly: "You must earn at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours you work." That one-to-forty ratio is the floor your Washington accrual setting should meet or beat. For how to set that up, see paid leave accrual rules for shop staff.

There is a waiting period before staff can use what they earn. A worker may begin using earned paid sick leave 90 calendar days after their first day with your shop. That is calendar days, not work days, so a part-timer's waiting period runs the same length as a full-timer's.

The page also covers returns. If someone leaves and is rehired within 12 months, days worked before the departure count toward that 90-day period. So a seasonal closer who worked last winter and comes back in the fall starts closer to the finish line of the wait.

Balances travel with the employee, too. Unused paid sick leave balances must be reinstated if an employee is terminated or leaves for any reason and returns to the same employer within 12 months.

Here is a compact side-by-side of the three states' published figures.

Illustrative example: three closers, three rules

Take a shop with three staff on the closing shift. One is in Illinois, one in California, one in Washington, because the chain sits in three states.

The Illinois closer's leave is governed by the statewide Act, and their eligibility depends on which category of worker they fall into. The California closer's balance is tracked in hours, and a 10-hour closing shift builds toward the higher 50-hour floor over time. The Washington closer earns leave as shifts land, waits 90 calendar days from their first shift before using any of it, and keeps the balance if they step away and come back within a year.

Three people, three rosters, three sets of settings in the same payroll tool. That is the real cost of running multi-state shops: not paperwork, but configuration that has to be right the first time.

What to check before your next roster

Before the next schedule goes up, walk these steps for each state you operate in.

• Read your state's page yourself. Start with the Illinois, California and Washington pages linked above.
• Confirm who is covered. Illinois expressly flags categories outside the law. Check each role on your roster against the Act's exclusions, and confirm unclear roles with the Department of Labor.
• Set the accrual in hours. Washington publishes a one-to-forty ratio. California publishes hour and day floors. Build your payroll setting around hours, not day headlines.
• Log the waiting period. Washington's 90-calendar-day wait starts on the first day of work. Put a start date in your system, not a vague note.
• Plan the return. Washington reinstates balances within 12 months, and prior days count toward the wait. Keep leavers marked as leavers, not deleted.
• Cover the shift. Paid leave still leaves a hole in the rota. Name the backup closer before the roster publishes.
• Keep one record for each state. If you run all three, keep three accrual tracks. Merging them is how mistakes happen.

The Illinois page points you at the statute by name. The California page walks through use limits and gives the 10-hour example. The Washington page spells out accrual, waiting period and reinstatement.

Questions to take to the agency

For questions such as exact accrual start dates or rounding rules, ask the state agency that published the page. Illinois points you to the Department of Labor; California's page sits with the Department of Industrial Relations; Washington's sits with Labor & Industries.

Today, pick one question about your roster, ask the agency that published your state's page, get the answer in writing, and file it with your settings.

FAQ

Does Illinois leave build up the same way Washington leave does? Washington publishes a specific ratio, at least one hour earned for every 40 hours worked. The Illinois page covered here points you to the Paid Leave for All Workers Act itself rather than spelling out a ratio, so read the Act text or ask the Department for your accrual method.

If my California staff work 8-hour shifts, does the 50-hour figure apply? No. The 50-hour figure comes from the page's 10-hour-day example, where five such days total 50 hours. For an 8-hour shift, five days is 40 hours, which is the other side of the "whichever is more" test.

What happens if a Washington employee quits and returns in under a year? Their unused balance comes back, and days they already worked count toward the 90-day waiting period. Both rules are tied to the 12-month return window.

Do I need to track anything for Illinois workers who fall outside the Act? The Illinois page states that certain categories are not subject to the law. For those roles, check whether any other rule applies and confirm with the Department of Labor. Confirm which category applies before you decide.

Where do I start if I run shops in all three states? Start with each state's own page, linked throughout this post, and set up three separate accrual tracks in your payroll tool. Then take any open question to the agency that published the page.