Sick leave carryover: 4 rules for rehired technicians

• in Washington, unused balances of 40 hours or less carry over from year to year, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, so a year-end balance figure for each worker is the first number to record.
• in Washington, balances must be reinstated after a return to the same employer within 12 months, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, so the separation date and the return date need to be recorded on the same line.
• in Washington, days worked before leaving count toward the 90-day period when a rehire happens within 12 months, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, so the original start date stays on file alongside the rehire start date.
• in New Jersey, a change to the benefit year needs written notice at least 30 calendar days before the proposed change, according to New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, so the proposed change date becomes the starting point for the notice calendar.

Any other state's rule needs its own review before it is applied to a rehire.

Technicians who return to a crew raise a question that a first-time hire does not: whether leave from an earlier stint still exists. A balance question answered from memory is harder to settle than one checked against a dated record, so the dates matter as much as the balance. When a rehire follows a long gap, the file is where the answer can be found.

Owners and team leads often face several of these questions at once: the size of the balance, whether the return is to the same employer, and how many days count toward a leave window.

The New Jersey page takes a different route. The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development ties carryover and use to the benefit year, so the benefit-year start date belongs in the file for any New Jersey rehire.

The discussion here is general reading of those state pages, not legal advice on a specific rehire.

A single file with the start date, the separation date and the return date is a practical way to answer these questions later.

The Washington page says that employees' unused paid sick leave balances of 40 hours or less must carry over from year to year, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. The threshold depends on the size of the unused balance, so the first figure to find at year end is the exact unused amount for each worker.

A year-end balance record for each worker gives that figure in a form that can be compared with 40 hours. A useful record shows the balance, the date it was measured and the pay period it came from, so each worker's figure can be checked on the same basis.

Measuring every worker on the same date keeps the 40-hour comparison consistent across the file.

For a larger balance, seek advice from a qualified adviser before deciding how much to carry over.

The carryover figure belongs on its own line in the file, apart from the reinstatement question, so the two rules are not mixed when a return is reviewed.

Reinstatement is the second Washington rule, and it turns on the return. The page says balances must be reinstated when an employee is terminated or leaves a job for any reason and returns to the same employer within 12 months, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

The page names both termination and leaving for any reason, so the cause of the separation does not decide whether the 12-month test applies, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

For a rehire file, a separation date and a return date set side by side let the 12-month test be read from one line. The same sentence covers a worker who is terminated, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, so a terminated worker's return is checked against the same 12-month wording.

The page names the same employer, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. A worker who joins a different business falls outside that wording, so that case needs its own review before any balance is treated as reinstated.

Store the separation date as the last day worked and the return date as the first day back, using dated entries rather than memory. Dated entries let a team lead calculate the interval later without reconstructing the schedule. Keep final pay and record dates alongside these entries for review.

The running count is 40 days. Keep the earlier and later entries together so the total can be traced.

Keep that review separate from the year-end carryover comparison so the return window is not mistaken for a balance cap.

Washington also sets a window for using leave. The page says an employer must allow employees to use their paid sick leave to care for themselves or their family members no more than 90 days after they start working, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

The rehire rule sits on the same page as a separate sentence. If an employee separates from the employer and is rehired within 12 months, the days worked before leaving count toward this 90-day period, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

The earlier days worked are counted toward the same period under that sentence, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, so a rehire file should show them alongside the new start date.

A single file holding the original start date, the days worked before separation and the rehire start date lets the 90-day count be traced later. A running count of days worked, dated by pay period, makes it easier to check the total against the file.

According to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, the 90-day limit is measured from when employees start working, so the first day worked after a return belongs in the file as its own dated entry.

The New Jersey page allows up to 40 hours of unused earned sick leave to move into the next benefit year, according to New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Employers must allow employees to use up to 40 hours of leave each benefit year, even if leave was carried over from the prior year, according to New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The same page lists advance leave: employers can give 40 hours at the start of the benefit year, according to New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. In a record, advance leave and carried-over leave are easier to review on separate lines.

For a New Jersey rehire, enter the benefit-year start date and the hours carried over at that date in the same row. That single row gives the carryover and the benefit-year date together, so a later review does not depend on separate notes.

The notice rule sets a minimum lead time of 30 calendar days, according to New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and the notice must be in writing. The latest date for the notice is therefore 30 calendar days before the proposed change, so the proposed change date is the starting point for that count.

The carryover rule refers to the next benefit year, according to New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, so the carryover date and the benefit-year start date belong together in the file.

Software entries follow a separate rule, according to Housecall Pro: manual entries for PTO, Sick, or Holiday can only be added if there is no active policy for that time type.

Before a manual Sick entry is added for a rehired technician, check whether an active policy exists for that time type. If one exists, a manual entry for that time type cannot be added under that wording, according to Housecall Pro.

Leave records for rehired staff can be kept with the return dates, so the software entry and the state dates are reviewed together.

The table below collects the wording from each publisher used in this article.

The next step is to list every rehired technician and to check each one's return date against the 12-month window. Each worker's departure date belongs beside that return date, so the window can be checked from records rather than from memory. Once the list is complete, the team lead can mark which workers returned inside the window and which did not. Keeping the list in the same file as the leave records keeps the return-date check in one place for the next seasonal hire.

How much unused sick leave carries over in Washington?

Balances of 40 hours or less carry over from year to year under the Washington page, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Compare each worker's year-end figure with that 40-hour wording before recording it as carried over.

What happens to leave if a technician returns within 12 months?

Unused balances must be reinstated after a return to the same Washington employer within 12 months, according to Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

How much notice does New Jersey need to change the benefit year?

At least 30 calendar days before the proposed change, the notice must be given in writing to the NJDOL Commissioner, according to New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

When can Housecall Pro manual sick entries be added?

Manual entries for PTO, Sick, or Holiday can be added only when no active policy exists for that time type, according to Housecall Pro. The wording refers to that time type, so each time type is checked separately.