Nebraska Healthy Families and Workplace Act

General Info

The Nebraska Healthy Families and Workplace Act (NHFWA) will become effective on October 1, 2025. The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) will require employers to give a written notice of the act to their employees by September 15, 2025. Additionally, employers must display informational posters, or if the job does not have a physical workplace, then the employer must share the information through electronic communication. NDOL will provide model notices and posters free of charge on the “dol.nebraska.gov” homepage.

The NHFWA applies to every employer with more than 10 employees. Small businesses with 11-19 employees must provide 40 hours of paid sick time annually. Businesses with more than 19 employees are required to provide 56 hours of paid sick time per year. Any employee over 15 years old who works at least 80 hours in a calendar year is eligible to accrue paid sick time.
 

Employer Requirements

Business Size

• 0-10 employees- are exempt.
• “Small Business” 11-19 employees- must provide 40 hours of paid sick time annually.
• “Business” 20 or more employees- must provide 56 hours of paid sick time annually.

Determining Business Size

• Only include individuals that worked 80 hours or more of consecutive employment in the state of Nebraska in a calendar year; this applies to out-of-state employers as well.
• The business size will be determined by the number of employees on the payroll for 20 or more calendar weeks in a year.
• Ex: A business that maintains 11-19 employees for 20 calendar weeks or more is a small business.
• Employers with multiple businesses will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine if they meet the threshold requirements. Considerations will include whether each entity was considered a separate employer for other legal purposes, including taxes, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation coverage, as well as the relationship between the entities. Employers should consult with a financial or legal advisor regarding where each business’s entity would be considered a separate employer.

Existing leave policy

• Any employer with a paid leave policy, such as a paid time off policy, who makes available an amount of paid leave sufficient to meet the requirements of the NHFWA that may be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as paid sick time under the Act is not required to provide additional paid sick time.

Accrual

• Employees begin accruing paid sick time after 80 hours of consecutive employment.
• The employer is allowed to front-load the paid sick time by providing the full annual sick leave allotment at the start of the year instead of accruing over time.
• With the front-loading option, an employer designates when the benefit year starts and ends. For example, if an employer’s benefit year begins on January 1st and the employer front loads paid sick time on that date, for an employee who is hired on any other date throughout the year, the employer will need to ensure that the employee accrues paid sick time in an amount equal to or greater than the time provided for under the Act until the beginning of the next benefit year.
• Employees accrue 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Small businesses with 11 to 19 employees must provide at least 40 hours of paid sick time per year. Businesses with 20 or more employees must provide at least 56 hours of paid sick time per year. This does not prevent an employer from allowing employees to earn more than NHFWA requires.

Tracking Accrual

• Employers are required to provide employees a statement of the following on each regular pay period:
  • Amount of paid sick time available
  • Amount of paid sick time taken
  • The amount of pay the employee has received as paid sick time
• This requirement can be satisfied with an online system to which the employees have access.
• The employer must be able to demonstrate to the Department how many hours the employee worked, how much paid sick time the employee accrued, and how much paid sick time the employee was permitted to use.

Pay Rate

• Paid sick time is compensated at the employee’s regular pay rate at the time its used or paid out.
• For employees paid on commission, milage, piece-rate, or fee-for-service basis, paid sick time means time that is compensated at an hourly rate determined by the employer using the average weekly rate calculator under section 48-126, which shall then be reduced to an hourly rate based on a forty- hour workweek.
• An employee may use paid sick time in either hourly increments or smaller increments if the employer’s payroll system accounts for absences in those smaller increments. Employers must allow at least hourly increments.

Separation Pay-out

• Paid sick time is not required to be paid out upon separation of employment. However, should the employer have a combined PTO policy (vacation and sick) all accrued but unused paid time off shall be due as wages pursuant to the Nebraska Wage Payment & Collection Act

Employee Benefits

Eligibility

• All employees (whether full-time, part-time, temporary, etc.) who work at least 80 hours of consecutive employment in a calendar year in Nebraska for an employer with 11 or more employees are entitled to accrue paid sick time unless otherwise exempt under the act.

Exemptions

• The following employees are not required to be provided paid sick time:
  • Individual owner-operator
  • Independent contractor
  • Individuals who work in Nebraska for fewer than 80 hours in a calendar year
  • An individual who is employed in agricultural employment of a seasonal or other temporary nature.
  • Employee subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act
  • An individual under the age of 16

Annual Carryover

• All accrued paid sick time shall be carried over to the following year. An employer designates when the year starts and ends. There is no maximum carryover.
• An employer may choose to pay out unused paid sick time provided that the employee begins the new year at or above the minimum paid sick time requirement.
• Although the requirement that paid sick time must be carried over, the employer is not required to permit an employee to use more than the maximum yearly amount of paid sick time provided within the act (either 40 or 56 hours).
• An employer with a paid leave policy, combined PTO (vacation and sick), that equals or exceeds the requirements of the Act and that may be used as paid sick time, is not obligated to allow an employee to accrue or carryover benefits beyond the employer’s existing paid leave policy.

Usage

• An employee accrues the same benefits during time taken for paid sick time as they typically earn during hours worked.
• Paid sick time may be used for the following:
  • An employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; an employee’s need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or an employee’s need for preventive medical care
  • Care of a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; care of a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; care of a family member who needs preventive medical care; or in the case of a child, to attend a meeting necessitated by the child’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, at a school or place where the child is receiving care
  • Closure of the employee’s place of business by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; an employee’s need to care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; or an employee’s need to self-isolate or care for the employee or a family member when it has been determined by the health authorities having jurisdiction or by a health care professional that the employee’s or family member’s presence in the community may jeopardize the health of others because of exposure to a communicable disease, whether or not the employee or family member has actually contracted the communicable disease

Family members

• The definition of family member for purposes of the Act is broad; any individual related by blood to the employee or whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship is considered a family member under the Act. Examples of those who meet this definition include:
  • A biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis (acting in the place of a parent).
  • A biological, foster, step, or adoptive parent or a legal guardian of an employee or an employee’s spouse.
  • A person who stood in loco parentis to the employee or the employee’s spouse when the employee or the employee’s spouse was a minor child.
  • A person to whom the employee is legally married under the laws of any state
  • A grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, whether of a biological, foster, adoptive, or step relationship, of the employee or the employee’s spouse

Notice

• Notice is only required if the employer has a written policy requiring an employee to give notice of the need to use paid sick time.
• The employer must provide the employee the written policy containing reasonable procedures for employees to provide notice.
• An employer that has not provided the employee with a copy of the written policy shall not deny paid sick time to the employee
• An employer cannot require, as a condition of an employee taking paid sick time, that the employee search for or find a replacement worker to cover the hours that the employee intends to use as paid sick time.
• An Employer may require reasonable documentation for use of accrued paid sick time if the employee has used paid sick time for more than 3 consecutive workdays.
• Reasonable documentation shall include documentation signed by a health care professional indicating that paid sick time is or was necessary.
• If the employee or a family member did not receive services from a health care professional or if documentation cannot be obtained from a health care professional in reasonable time or without added expense, a written statement from the employee indicating that the employee is taking or took paid sick time for a qualifying purpose shall be considered reasonable documentation.

Absence control system

• An employer may not count paid sick time taken under the act as an absence that may lead to or result in a retaliatory personnel action or any other adverse action.
• After an employee has exhausted all paid sick time that he or she is entitled to use under the act, an employer may then apply its normal absence control policy.

Complaint

• NDOL will have a form available on their website for individuals to file a complaint.
• Employers may face fines up to $500 for a first violation and up to $5,000 for subsequent violations.