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Memorandum <br /> <br /> <br />To: City Administrator Bryan Bear <br />From: City Clerk Michele Lindau <br />Date: December 12, 2023 for City Council Meeting on December 18, 2023 <br />Re: Earned Safe and Sick Time Law <br /> <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br /> <br />A new law passed during the 2023 legislative session requires employers to provide employees <br />with Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST). The new law becomes effective January 1, 2024. <br />This law applies to any employer with one or more employees and covers all employees <br />including part-time, temporary, and paid on call firefighters. <br />REVIEW OF NEW LAW <br />Under the new law, an employee earns, at a minimum, up to one hour of time off for every 30 <br />hours worked, up to 48 hours each year. Cities that provide earned sick and safe time to <br />employees under a paid time off policy are not required to provide additional earned sick and <br />safe time, as long as the policy meets the same conditions or exceeds the minimum standard of <br />the law. <br />There are three options the City can choose from for accruing ESST: <br />1. An employee could be awarded one hour for each 30 hours earned. An employee would <br />be required to work 80 hours prior to using any accrued ESST. The minimum amount an <br />employee could accrue would be 48 hours. Hours can be carried over to the following <br />year but the ESST bank could be limited to 80 hours. There would be no payout <br />required. <br /> <br />2. An employee could be front-loaded 48 hours at the beginning of the year for immediate <br />use. This option would require the employee to be paid for any unused ESST hours at <br />the end of each year at the employee’s hourly rate. <br /> <br />3. Employee could be front-loaded 80 hours at the beginning of the year for immediate use. <br />This option would not require the employee to be paid out at the end of the year for any <br />unused ESST nor require any ESST hours to carry over into the following year. <br />In addition to the accrual of ESST, the law specifies conditions for the use of ESST, and <br />includes protection from retaliation, and benefit and return to work protections. Reasons for the <br />use of ESST include when an employee is sick, to care for a sick family member or to seek <br />assistance if an employee or their family member has experienced domestic abuse, sexual <br />assault, or stalking. <br /> <br /> <br />