Massachusetts Paid Sick Days Initiative

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The Massachusetts Paid Sick Days Initiative was a successful initiative voted on in the Massachusetts general election held on November 4, 2014. It was one of four 2014 ballot measures put to public vote.

Contents

Voting

Question 4 on the ballot, "Earned Sick Time for Employees". [1]

A YES VOTE on the question would allow workers to earn and use a set amount of paid or unpaid sick time per year based on specific conditions, such as the size of their companies. [2]
A NO VOTE maintains current laws. [2]
ResponseVotes%
Yes1,256,94157%
No859,62139%
blank70,3294%

Source: [1]

Implementation

The law went into effect on July 1, 2015, [3] with approximately 200 clarifications and adjustments made by the Massachusetts Attorney General's office. [4] The law requires that companies with 11 or more employees give workers up to 40 hours of paid sick time a year, while smaller companies may offer it unpaid. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Statewide Ballot Questions — Statistics by Year: 2014". sec.state.ma.us. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Stephanie, Vallejo (November 2, 2014). "2014 Massachusetts ballot questions: Your cheat sheet" . The Boston Globe . p. R.9. Retrieved March 10, 2018 via pqarchiver.com.
  3. Johnston, Katie (June 15, 2015). "Firms struggle with sick time rules" . The Boston Globe . p. A.1. Retrieved March 11, 2018 via pqarchiver.com.
  4. 1 2 Johnston, Katie (June 20, 2015). "Wrinkles in sick-time law ironed out" . The Boston Globe . p. B.5. Retrieved March 11, 2018 via pqarchiver.com.

Further reading