Federal Law

• Under federal law, employers do not have to pay their employees for time not worked, but most employers are required to allow their employees to take time off on an unpaid basis for qualified medical emergencies. The Family and Medical Leave Act requires federal and state government employers and private employers with 50 or more employees to provide paid or unpaid medical leave to their eligible employees. According to the act, employees who worked at least 1,250 hours for their employers within the year preceding their leave requests are entitled to at least 12 weeks of unpaid sick leave for medical emergencies.
  
  

State Laws

• Although employers are not required to provide their employees with paid sick, vacation or personal leave under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, they may be required to provide these benefits as part of their collective bargaining duties or private employment agreements. Furthermore, states can enact their own sick leave laws mandating paid sick leave for their public or private employees. In South Carolina, although public employers are required to provide their employees with paid sick leave, private employers are not.
  
  

South Carolina Law

• Private employers with at least five employees and all public employers are required to comply with the South Carolina Payment of Wages Law. The state's Payment of Wages Law requires employers to notify each of their employees of their paid leave policies and work benefits. Furthermore, employers are required to notify their employees of their salaries or hourly wages at the time of initial hiring, according to the South Carolina Payment of Wages Law. To change their policies, employers are required to notify their employees of their changes in writing, at least seven days before they implement them.
  
  

South Carolina Private Employment Sick Leave

• South Carolina law does not require employers to pay their employees for time not worked. Furthermore, employers can voluntarily enact sick leave or other paid fringe benefit policies, and they can implement mandatory forfeiture policies if they choose to provide their employees with paid fringe benefits. Unlike a few states such as California, accrued paid leave does not become payable as wages. In California, the state legislature enacted paid leave laws in the California Labor Code, and employers are required to pay their employees for unused vacation leave -- not sick leave -- at termination.
  
  

South Carolina Public Employment Sick Leave Law

• Full-time public employees who work for the State of South Carolina are entitled to 15 days of paid sick leave per year. Full-time employees include salaried and hourly employees who work more than 40 hours per week. Furthermore, state employees can carryover 90 days of accrued sick leave for retirement purposes.