Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

In the area of small business, it is very important to seriously consider the impact that sick leave can have upon you. 

The first thing we must do is to make sure we have a plan in place that all our employees have read and understand. 

Now, as far as the Federal law goes, only if you have more than 50 people working for you within a 75-mile radius does FMLA apply. Also make sure you check with your state laws concerning these things. Many states also have family and medical leave laws, and these often apply to smaller business. So even if the FMLA does not relate to you, your state's law may. To learn more concerning your state leave law, get in touch with your state labor department.

But keeping these things in mind, we as owners or managers don’t want to work primarily from the legal aspect of things. We want to have a culture of trust and respect, not only for business success, but to lower the potential employer/employee antagonism that doesn’t help anybody. 

But for our information, there are no legal requirements to provide paid vacation or sick leave to your employees. You could legally choose to provide no sick leave to your employees, but you would have a hard time finding quality people in the competitive environment we work in.

The main thing to consider when creating a policy is this: You must apply the policy consistently to all of your employees. If you offer some of your employees more than others you could open yourself up to claims concerning unjust conduct.