Florida does not require private employers to provide paid sick leave. There is no state statute setting an accrual rate, an annual cap, or a guaranteed number of paid sick hours, and there is no Florida agency that enforces a paid-sick-leave entitlement because none exists. On top of that, a 2013 Florida law (Section 218.077, Florida Statutes) preempts cities and counties from creating their own paid-sick-leave mandates, so you cannot count on a local ordinance filling the gap either. In Florida, whether you earn paid sick time, how fast it accrues, and how much you can carry over are set entirely by your employer's own policy or your union contract, not by law.
What Florida Law Actually Requires
No Florida statute or regulation obligates a private employer to give employees paid time off when they are sick. This puts Florida in line with the federal baseline: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) also does not require employers to provide paid sick leave or any paid time off. Federal law only requires that you be paid for hours you actually work, plus overtime (generally time-and-a-half after 40 hours in a workweek). If you do not work because you are sick and you have no employer-provided paid leave to use, federal and Florida law generally allow an employer to leave that time unpaid.
Because the entitlement is voluntary, an employer that chooses to offer paid sick leave or paid time off (PTO) sets its own terms: who is eligible, how many hours accrue per pay period, the maximum balance, whether unused time rolls over, and what notice or documentation you must give. Those terms become enforceable as a matter of contract and company policy, not as a statutory right.
The Florida Preemption Law on Local Ordinances
Some states allow cities and counties to require paid sick leave even when the state does not. Florida does the opposite. Section 218.077, Florida Statutes, prohibits political subdivisions, meaning municipalities and counties, from adopting or enforcing any ordinance that requires an employer to provide employment benefits, including paid or unpaid sick leave, not otherwise required by state or federal law. Miami Beach famously tried to raise wages locally and was blocked by a parallel state preemption statute; the sick-leave preemption works the same way.
The practical effect: do not expect a local Florida ordinance to grant you paid sick days. If you read about a city sick-leave law, it almost certainly applies in another state. In Florida, the question is always what your own employer's handbook says.
How This Interacts With PTO
Many Florida employers fold sick time into a single PTO bank rather than tracking sick days separately. Because Florida has no sick-leave statute, an employer is free to design PTO however it likes. Florida law also does not require employers to pay out unused PTO or vacation when you leave a job. Whether you get paid for an unused balance at termination depends on your employer's written policy or agreement. If the policy promises payout, Florida courts will generally enforce that promise as a wage obligation; if the policy says unused time is forfeited, that is typically permitted. Read the policy carefully, and keep a copy.
One caution: even though sick leave itself is not mandated, once an employer adopts a policy it should apply it consistently. Selectively denying earned, promised paid time, or applying attendance rules in a discriminatory way, can create separate legal exposure under wage-payment or anti-discrimination law.
How Florida Sick Leave Interacts With FMLA
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is the main legal protection Florida workers have for a serious illness, and it is unpaid. FMLA lets eligible employees take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period for their own serious health condition, to care for a close family member, or for the birth or placement of a child. To be eligible you generally must work for a covered employer (private employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles, plus public agencies and schools), have worked there at least 12 months, and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the prior year.