Nebraska Employees to Receive Paid Sick Leave

Effective October 1, 2025, Nebraska employers must provide paid sick leave to employees in accordance with Ballot Initiative 436 or the Nebraska Healthy Families and Workplace Act (Act). On or before September 15, 2025, employers must give written notice of the Act to employees. In the upcoming months, the Nebraska Department of Labor is expected to provide more detailed information regarding the Act as well as a model posting/notice.

Although additional guidance is expected, the summary below describes information contained in the Act:

Who does the Act apply to?
The terms “employer” and “employees” are broadly defined in the Act and thus cover nearly all Nebraska employers and employees. Specifically, “Employers” are defined as all Nebraska employers other than the United States or the State of Nebraska (employers), and “employees” are defined to include anyone employed by an employer (employees). The Act does not cover individuals who work less than eighty hours per calendar year in Nebraska or are subject to the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Non-employees, such as independent contractors, are not covered by the Act.

What are employers required to provide under the Act
The Act requires all employers to allow their employees to accrue at least one hour of paid sick time for every thirty hours worked. Businesses with twenty or more employees must allow their employees to accrue and use fifty-six hours of paid sick leave annually. However, small businesses with nineteen or fewer employees only have to provide up to forty hours of paid sick leave per year. Overtime exempt employees are subject to the Act and accrue paid sick leave assuming they work forty hours a week. However, if the exempt employee works less than forty hours a week, accrual is based upon the number of hours worked in a typical week.

The Act provides employers with some flexibility regarding accrual of paid sick time. At the employer’s option, the employer may “front load” or advance all the paid sick time an employee is expected to accrue at the beginning of the year rather than awarding time as it accrues.

Also, employers who currently have a paid sick leave policy which provides greater benefits than required by the Act do not need to provide additional paid sick leave.

How may employees use their accrued paid sick leave?
The Act allows an employee to use paid sick leave the employee’s own mental or physical illness, need for medical care, or need for preventative medical care. Additionally, an employee may also use paid sick leave to provide care for a family member. “Family member” is defined broadly, to include the employee’s spouse, any of the employee’s or spouse’s biological, foster, step, or adoptive children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, any individual related by blood to the employee, or anyone else whom the employee has a “close association . . . [to] the equivalent of a family relationship with.”

The Act will prohibit an employer from interfering with, restraining, or denying the use of paid sick time or retaliating against an employee for using paid sick time. However, an employer may implement a written policy requiring an employee to provide notice before taking paid sick leave. The Act specifically states that the policy may not require the employee to find a replacement for the missed working time as a prerequisite for taking paid sick leave.

An employer may request reasonable documentation regarding an employee’s use of paid sick leave if the employee uses three or more consecutive days of paid sick leave. In such a case, sufficient documentation includes a signed letter from a health care professional stating the time off was necessary. However, if the employee did not seek health care or cannot obtain documentation without added expense or within a reasonable time, a written statement from the employee indicating that the paid sick time was taken for a covered purpose must satisfy the documentation requirements.

If an employee has not used all paid sick time at the end of a given calendar year, the Act requires the employer to allow the employee to carry over the accrued time to the following calendar year. However, the employer can limit the employee’s use of paid sick leave in the following calendar year to either 40 or 56 hours (depending on the size of the employer).

What’s next for employers?
As noted above, the Act will not take effect until October 2025, and employers can continue their current practices. On or before September 15, 2025, all employers covered by the Act must provide their employees with written notice as to the employees’ rights and remedies under the Act and clearly and conspicuously display a poster containing the same. Upon the issuance of additional legal authority, employers should be prepared to amend their current policies and/or practices to comply with the Act. The attorneys at Dvorak Law Group are available to discuss, advise, and assist employers in complying with current laws.