DC Paid Sick Leave: Accrual, Coverage, and Retaliation

DC paid sick leave is governed by the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, which gives most workers in the District between one hour of paid leave for every 37 hours worked and one hour for every 87 hours worked, depending on the size of the employer. You can use it for your own illness, to care for a family member, or to handle situations tied to domestic violence, stalking, or sexual abuse. Unused hours carry over year to year, but your employer does not have to cash them out when you leave.

How Much Leave You Earn

Accrual depends on how many people your employer has on payroll:

100 or more employees: one hour for every 37 hours worked, capped at seven days per calendar year.
25 to 99 employees: one hour for every 43 hours worked, capped at five days per year.
24 or fewer employees: one hour for every 87 hours worked, capped at three days per year.

Those day counts are usage caps for a single calendar year, not lifetime ceilings on what you can accumulate.¹

Tipped workers get a different rule that ignores employer size. If you regularly receive tips, commissions, or gratuities on top of a base wage below D.C. minimum wage, you accrue one hour for every 43 hours worked, up to five days per calendar year, even if the restaurant or bar has only a handful of employees.²

You start accruing on your first day. You cannot actually use the leave until you have completed 90 days of employment.¹

Who Is Covered

Coverage is broad. Any individual employed by an employer in the District qualifies, as long as at least half of their working hours are spent in D.C. Full-time, part-time, and temporary workers all count. If you split time between D.C. and another jurisdiction, you are covered when the larger share of your hours falls inside the District.³

The statute excludes independent contractors, unpaid volunteers at nonprofits or religious organizations, casual babysitters in an employer’s home, lay members of religious organizations doing religious work, health care workers who opt into a premium pay program, and substitute teachers or aides employed by D.C. Public Schools for 30 or fewer consecutive work days.⁴

The student carve-out is narrower than it sounds. It applies only to a full-time student employed by the school they attend, working under 25 hours a week, and not replacing a worker who would otherwise be covered. A student working a job unrelated to their school, like a coffee shop or retail store, is fully covered.⁴

What You Can Use It For

The law splits permissible uses into sick leave and safe leave.

Sick leave covers your own physical or mental illness, injury, or medical condition, plus routine and preventive care like a dental cleaning or annual physical. The same reasons apply when you are caring for a covered family member.¹

“Family member” is defined generously. It includes your spouse or domestic partner, children (including foster children and grandchildren), parents, siblings, parents-in-law, and the spouses of your children or siblings. It also covers a child who lives with you and for whom you have taken on permanent parental responsibility, and anyone who has shared your home for at least the preceding 12 months in a committed relationship.⁴

Safe leave applies when you or a family member is a victim of stalking, domestic violence, or sexual abuse. You can use it to get medical care for injuries, obtain counseling, receive services from a victim services organization, relocate, or participate in civil or criminal legal proceedings. A catch-all provision covers any other action that enhances your physical, psychological, or economic safety.¹

How To Request It

When the need is foreseeable, like a planned surgery or scheduled court date, submit a written request at least 10 days in advance, or as soon as you know if the notice is shorter. Include the reason and how long you expect to be out.⁵

For absences of three or more consecutive days, your employer can ask for reasonable documentation. A signed note from a health care provider covers sick leave. For safe leave, a police report, a court order, or a signed statement from a victim or witness advocate will do. You have until your return to work, or one business day after, to provide it.

Carryover and Leaving the Job

Unused leave rolls over into the next calendar year, so nothing is lost simply because December ends. The annual usage cap still governs how much you can actually take in a given year, even if your balance is higher.³

If you quit or are fired, your employer owes you nothing for the unused hours. That surprises workers coming from states that require payout of accrued leave.³

Rehired within a year by the same employer? Your prior balance comes back and you can use it right away, assuming you had already cleared the 90-day waiting period the first time around. A gap longer than a year resets everything to zero.¹

Retaliation Is Illegal

Your employer cannot fire, demote, suspend, or otherwise punish you for using paid leave, filing a complaint, cooperating with an investigation, telling coworkers about their rights, or opposing a violation. Attendance policies cannot count protected leave as an absence that triggers discipline.⁶

If your employer takes an adverse action against you within 90 days of filing a complaint, informing someone of their rights, or cooperating with an investigation, the law presumes retaliation. Your employer then has to prove the action was unrelated. Document everything in writing when you assert your rights.⁶

What Your Employer Owes If They Deny Leave

Refusing to let you use accrued leave costs the employer $500 per denied day in additional damages, on top of any back pay for wages you lost. That penalty applies whether you came to work anyway or stayed home unpaid.⁷

Willful violations bring escalating civil penalties: $1,000 for a first offense, $1,500 for a second, and $2,000 for each after that, per affected employee. The Mayor can also order reinstatement, compensatory and punitive damages, and reasonable attorney’s fees.⁷

How To File a Complaint

You have two paths. File an administrative complaint with the Office of Wage-Hour at the D.C. Department of Employment Services, or bring a civil action in court. For the administrative route, download the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act Claim form from the DOES website and submit it by mail to the Office of Wage-Hour at 4058 Minnesota Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20019, or by email to owh.ask@dc.gov. Questions go to (202) 671-1880.⁸

Both administrative and civil complaints must be filed within three years of the violation, or of the last violation in a series. That three-year clock pauses during any period when your employer failed to post the required workplace notice about sick leave rights. For civil suits, the clock also pauses while an administrative complaint is pending.⁹

1
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 32-531.02 – Provision of Paid Leave
2
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code Subchapter III – Employee Sick Leave
3
District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act Fact Sheet
4
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 32-531.01 – Definitions
5
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 32-531.03 – Notification
6
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 32-531.08 – Prohibited Acts
7
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 32-531.12 – Enforcement and Penalties
8
District of Columbia Department of Employment Services. D.C. Worker Labor and Anti-Discrimination Rights
9
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 32-531.10a – Statute of Limitations