Seattle Sick Leave Law: Coverage, Accrual, and Retaliation

Seattle’s sick leave law, formally the Paid Sick and Safe Time ordinance under Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 14.16, requires every employer with workers in the city to provide paid leave that employees can use for illness, medical care, domestic violence situations, and certain public-health closures. Accrual begins on your first day. How much you earn and how much can carry over depend on how many people your employer has worldwide.¹

Who Is Covered

The ordinance defines “employee” broadly. Full-time, part-time, and temporary workers all count, and the employer’s headquarters location does not matter. What matters is that the work happens inside Seattle’s city limits. If your employer classifies you as an independent contractor and you disagree, the employer carries the burden of proving that classification is genuine.¹

Workers based outside the city who occasionally come into Seattle for deliveries or client work are covered too, but only after they exceed 240 hours worked in the city within a calendar year. Once you cross that threshold, every Seattle hour after it accrues leave.²

There is no minimum company size. A sole proprietor with one employee has to comply.

How Much You Earn and How Much Carries Over

The ordinance sorts employers into three tiers based on total full-time equivalents worldwide, and each tier has its own accrual rate and carryover cap.¹

Tier 1, fewer than 50 FTEs. One hour of paid sick and safe time for every 40 hours worked. Annual use and carryover can be capped at 40 hours.
Tier 2, 50 to 249 FTEs. Same accrual rate of one hour per 40 worked, but the cap rises to 56 hours.
Tier 3, 250 or more FTEs. Faster accrual at one hour per 30 worked, and the cap is 72 hours. If the employer uses a combined PTO policy covering both vacation and sick leave, the carryover cap rises to 108 hours.²

Accrual starts the day you begin working. Nothing about it is discretionary on the employer’s part.

When You Can Actually Use It

You begin accruing immediately, but you cannot use the hours until 90 calendar days after your start date. That waiting period comes from Washington State’s paid sick leave statute and applies statewide.³ On day 91, your full accrued balance is available to use.

What You Can Use It For

The law splits authorized uses into sick time and safe time.

Sick Time

You can use accrued hours for your own physical or mental illness, injury, or health condition, and for medical diagnosis, treatment, or preventive care. Routine visits like dental cleanings and flu shots count. The same reasons apply when you’re caring for a covered family member.¹

Safe Time

Safe time covers three categories. First, when your workplace has been closed by order of a public official for a health-related reason, such as an infectious disease exposure or hazardous material incident. Second, when your child’s school or daycare is closed under that same kind of order. Third, for reasons connected to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking affecting you, a family member, or a household member. That last category is wide: seeking legal help, attending court, meeting a counselor, obtaining medical treatment for related injuries, relocating to a safe home, or making a safety plan all qualify.¹

Who Counts as Family

For sick time, family means your child, parent, spouse, registered domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling. “Child” and “parent” pick up step, foster, adoptive, and de facto relationships, and there is no age or dependency limit.¹

For safe time tied to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, the definition stretches further. It adds parents-in-law, dating partners, and household members. Household members include current and former spouses and domestic partners, people who share a child with you, adults related by blood or marriage, and anyone 16 or older who currently lives with you or has lived with you in the past.¹

Requesting Leave and What Documentation Is Fair

For a foreseeable absence like scheduled surgery or a court date, submit a written request at least ten days ahead when you can, or as early as possible if you can’t. For a sudden need, tell your employer before your shift starts or as soon as you reasonably can after.⁴

Your employer can require you to follow standard call-in procedures, but those procedures cannot be structured in a way that blocks you from using leave you’re entitled to. Your employer cannot make you find a replacement worker as a condition of taking sick leave.³

If a sick absence runs more than three consecutive days, the employer may request reasonable documentation, such as a note from a healthcare provider confirming that the leave was medically necessary. The note cannot be required to disclose the nature of the illness. If the employer does not offer health insurance to the employee, the employer must pay half the cost of getting that documentation, including the office visit, any required tests, and transportation. If insurance was offered and you declined it, the cost-sharing does not apply.⁴

For safe time absences beyond three days involving domestic violence, the employer can request verification that the employee or family member is a victim and that the leave was used for a qualifying purpose. For a public closure, the employer can ask for proof of the closure order.

What Your Employer Has to Show You and Keep on File

Every pay period, your employer must give you a written statement of your available paid sick and safe time balance. That can be on the pay stub or through an online portal where you can look it up.⁵

The employer must also post a workplace notice explaining employee rights, and must keep records of hours worked and leave taken for at least three years. If a dispute arises and the employer cannot produce those records, the law presumes the employer violated the ordinance. Overcoming that presumption takes clear and convincing evidence, which is a high standard.⁵

If You’re Rehired

Leave and come back within 12 months, and your employer must reinstate the unused hours you had accrued before you left. That applies even if you return to a different position or location within the same company, and the employer has to tell you how many hours were restored.⁶

Three caveats matter. If the employer cashed out your unused balance at separation and paid you at least your normal hourly rate, those hours don’t have to be reinstated. If your separation stretches into the next calendar year, the employer only has to reinstate up to 40 hours. And if you hadn’t reached the 90-day waiting period yet before you left, your earlier time on the job counts toward that threshold when you come back.⁶

Retaliation Is Prohibited, and the Law Backs That Up

Your employer cannot fire you, cut your hours, demote you, discipline you, or take any other adverse action against you for using accrued leave, filing a complaint, or cooperating with an investigation. The ordinance goes further: if adverse action lands within 90 days of your exercising any right under the law, there is a rebuttable presumption that the action was retaliatory. The employer then has to prove the action was unrelated to your protected activity, rather than you having to prove it was retaliatory.⁴

Penalties and How to File a Complaint

The Office of Labor Standards enforces the ordinance. For a first violation, it can assess up to $500 per affected worker. A second violation raises the ceiling to $1,000 per worker or 10 percent of the total unpaid wages, whichever is greater. A third or later violation goes up to $5,000 per worker or 10 percent of unpaid wages. The absolute maximum is $20,000 per affected worker, or 10 percent of unpaid wages if that figure is higher.⁵

To file a complaint, contact OLS at (206) 256-5297, laborstandards@seattle.gov, seattle.gov/laborstandards, or in person at 810 3rd Avenue, Suite 375, Seattle, WA 98104 (weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.).⁷

How the Seattle Law Interacts With Washington State’s

Washington’s statewide paid sick leave law under RCW 49.46.210 took effect in 2018 and applies to all workers in the state. If you work in Seattle, both laws apply, and your employer must follow whichever provision is more generous to you on any given point.³

The state law sets one accrual rate, one hour per 40 worked, and caps carryover at 40 hours regardless of employer size. Seattle’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 rules go beyond that, with higher carryover caps and, for the largest employers, faster accrual. Both laws share the same 90-day waiting period and both bar the “find your own replacement” requirement. Seattle’s ordinance separately addresses safe time for domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and public-health closures, which the state statute does not spell out the same way.¹

1
Municode. Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 14.16 – Paid Sick Time and Paid Safe Time
2
Seattle Office of Labor Standards. Seattle Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance – SMC 14.16
3
Washington State Legislature. RCW 49.46.210
4
Seattle City Clerk. Ordinance 124960
5
Municode. Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 14.16 – Paid Sick Time and Paid Safe Time – Section 14.16.130
6
Cornell Law Institute. WAC 296-128-690 – Separation and Reinstatement of Accrued Paid Sick Leave Upon Rehire
7
Seattle.gov. Paid Sick and Safe Time