However many patches it takes to make a paid sick leave patchwork, we are there…and adding more. Here are the patches added in 2016, thus far:

Alabama is now a kibosh state, joining about a dozen others that prohibit municipalities from passing a law requiring employers to provide employees with paid or unpaid leave. The Alabama law, HB 174, also bars municipalities from requiring employers to pay employees for any leave required by federal law, e.g., the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Vermont becomes the fifth state to pass a PSL law, joining Connecticut, California, Massachusetts and Oregon. For more information on the Vermont law, click here.

Although California already has a PSL law, Santa Monica patches in with its own. Watch for San Diego to join the list of California PSL cities after its June referendum on PSL. For more information on the Santa Monica law, click here.

Finally, the federal government is working on its first PSL patch. On Labor Day last year, President Obama signed Executive Order 13706, which requires federal contractors to allow their employees to accrue paid sick days. The Department of Labor recently published proposed rules to implement that executive order.

There was a time I could recite the list of PSL jurisdictions without any hesitancy. With more than 30 PSL jurisdictions now, there is a hesitancy or two to make sure I have them all. National and multi-jurisdiction employers continue to struggle to comply with the varied and sometimes inconsistent provisions of these laws. The struggle is going to continue and, like the patchwork, will grow!