Nebraska has enacted legislation (LB415), which amends the Nebraska Healthy Workplaces and Families Act (“the Act”). The Act is effective Oct. 1, 2025.
The Details
LB415 provides the following updates to the Act:
Covered Employers
The definition of employer is changed to mean an employer that employs eleven or more employees (previously it was one or more employees). This means that employers with fewer than eleven employees do not have to provide paid sick leave.
The definition of a small business is changed to mean an employer with at least 11 but fewer than 20 employees (previously it was fewer than 20 employees).
The small business definition is significant because small businesses are required to provide accrual of at least 40 hours of paid sick time in a year. Businesses with 20 or more employees are required to provide accrual of at least 56 hours of paid sick time in a year.
Counting Employees to Determine Coverage
Recently updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from the Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) indicate that, “[f]or the purposes of determining business size, the Department will only include individuals that worked at least 80 hours of consecutive employment in the State of Nebraska for the out of state employer in a calendar year.”
Covered Employees
The law clarifies that the paid sick leave law does not apply to individual owner-operators, independent contractors, individuals employed in agricultural employment of a seasonal or other temporary nature, and individuals under 16 years of age.
Credit for 2025 Paid Sick Time
Under the law, leave that is provided to an employee on or after Jan. 1, 2025, and before Oct. 1, 2025, shall be counted toward an employer’s obligations under the Act for calendar year 2025.
Accrual
The law is updated to require paid sick leave accrual to begin after 80 hours of consecutive employment in Nebraska.
Termination and Reinstatement
Under the law:
- Employers are not required to pay an employee for unused paid sick time upon the employee’s separation from employment.
- Paid sick leave must be reinstated if it was not previously paid out to an employee who is terminated and then rehired in 12 months.
Existing Policies
Employers with paid leave policies that meet or exceed the requirements of the Act (40 hours per year for small employers and 56 hours per year for large employers) are not required to allow employees to carry over unused sick leave benefits beyond the limits of their current policy.
Employers with existing leave policies are relieved of certain notice requirements, finding replacements, documentation, etc. See the text of the law for further details.
Pay Rates
Employees paid on a commission, piece-rate, milage, or fee-per-service basis should receive paid sick leave based on an hourly rate that uses the average weekly rate calculation that is based on the state workers’ compensation statute.
Employer Notice
As a reminder, under existing law, employers must provide written notice of the Act to employees by Sept. 15, 2025, or at the commencement of employment (whichever is later). See the text of the law for further details.
Additionally, employers must display a poster containing the information required in the notice. If an employer does not maintain a physical workplace or an employee teleworks or performs work through a web based or app-based platform, the employer must provide notice of such information via electronic communication or a conspicuous posting in the web-based or app-based platform. The NDOL will provide model notices and posters free of charge on the NDOL’s home page prior to Sept. 15, 2025.
Next Steps
Review the recently released FAQs from the NDOL. These FAQS are helpful in providing an overview of the current state of the law.
Review and update pay and sick leave policies and procedures.