Pursuant to Executive Order 13706, federal contractors must provide up to seven days of sick leave per year to their employees. This leave includes paid time off for various reasons, including to care for a child, a parent, a spouse, a domestic partner, or any other individual related by blood or affinity, “… whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship…. “. An employer’s existing paid sick leave policy may be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as described in the Executive Order.
Federal contractors in P.R. must review their policies and employee manuals to ensure that they coordinate these benefits and comply with the Executive Order, as well as with Puerto Rico sick leave statutory requirements for non-exempt employees. This may mean, for example, that employees of federal contractors in P.R. may use accrued sick leave to care for family members, as allowed under Executive Order 13706, in excess of what is allowed under PR law (which allows up to five days for this purpose) and without a need to maintain an unused sick leave balance of at least five days, which is also required by local law only.
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