Q: Maryland sick/safe law, can you be forceto use your accrued PTO?
Is it permissible for an employer to only allow you to use your sick and/or safe leave if you have the PTO hours to cover said leave? Thus then charging you PTO hours in addition to your sick and/or safe leave hours? This is a job place where the employees are paid predominantly tips, the the tip pool is shared. So there for an employee that calls out using their sick/safe hours is charged 8hours of their accrued pto, and they are paid out of the shared tip pool for that day.
A: As long as the employer's overall PTO policy provides the minimum sick/safe leave, they can require the employee to use earned PTO. However, if the employer does not set aside leave that can only be used for sick/safe purposes, the DLLR guidance states that it "strongly encourages such employers to advise employees that sick and safe leave is covered by the existing PTO the employer provides and that any additional sick and safe leave will not be provided." But based on your question, it appears the employer does have a separate sick/safe leave policy- and it would be permitted to have the employee use PTO if it is available.
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