Sponsors (36)
Official title: Allow Americans to earn paid sick time so that they can address their own health needs and the health needs of their families.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by Bernard Sanders · Last progress February 12, 2026
The bill creates a federal floor guaranteeing most workers paid sick leave, stronger anti‑retaliation protections, and broader coverage and enforcement — expanding worker health, family care, and legal remedies — while imposing meaningful costs, administrative complexity, and litigation risk on employers and governments and producing uneven timing and benefit levels across workplaces and locations.
Covered employees (especially low- and middle-income workers and parents) gain a federal minimum of paid sick leave accrual (at least 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 56 hours/year) that can be used for personal and family medical care, preventive care, caregiving, and VAWA-related needs, with accrual at hire and reinstatement on rehire within 12 months.
Workers covered by existing contracts, plans, collective bargaining agreements, or stronger state/local laws keep whatever greater paid-leave protections they already have (the federal law establishes a floor, not a ceiling), preserving union-negotiated benefits and local expansions.
Employees (including applicants) gain stronger legal protections and enforcement tools: explicit anti-retaliation protections, the right to sue for backpay/liquidated damages and equitable relief, fee-shifting to help plaintiffs, Secretary investigatory and subpoena authority, and an extended statute of limitations for willful violations.
Small and other employers (and ultimately consumers/taxpayers) will face materially higher labor and compliance costs from mandated accrual, reinstatement rules, and the pay-floor for leave, which can increase operating expenses, prices, or constrain hiring.
Businesses must absorb significant administrative complexity and ongoing compliance burdens (tracking differing contractual/union/state obligations, separate confidential medical records, posting/handbook updates, and expanded recordkeeping), raising overhead especially for small employers.
The law increases litigation and enforcement exposure (more claims, fee-shifting to prevailing plaintiffs, liquidated damages, subpoenas, and waivers of sovereign immunity for funded states), creating financial and legal risk for private employers and governments.
Based on analysis of 13 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a federal paid sick leave floor: at least 1 hour earned per 30 hours worked, usable after 60 days, up to 56 hours/year, with enforcement and nondiminution protections.
Creates a national minimum paid sick leave standard requiring employers to provide at least 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked (up to 56 hours per year) with accrual from hire and usable after 60 days. The law preserves stronger existing employer or state leave benefits, extends coverage to many federal and legislative-branch employees and certain railroad workers, establishes enforcement tools and private-rights-of-action, requires agency rulemaking and public education, and mandates data collection and a GAO study on implementation.