Federal mandates that employers provide paid sick leave and extended family and medical leave during the coronavirus pandemic (FFCRA) is proving insufficient to some states and municipalities around the country. The state of Maine will become the first in the nation to mandate leave that can be used for any reason or no reason when the law becomes effective January 1, 2021. Just about a week ago, the Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) issued its final regulations for the implementation of “An Act Authorizing Earned Employee Leave”, which Governor Janet Mills signed into law back in May, 2019. The final MDOL rules mandate that all private employers with 11 or more employees provide 1 hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours paid leave annually. Again, note that the mandate is for earned leave – which may be taken for any or no reason – and not sick leave, which presumably is to be used for illness. On the opposite side of the country, California has a new supplemental paid sick leave mandate that thankfully only applies to employers with more than 500 employees or those with fewer that hire health care professionals and/or first responders. More germane for our subscribers, Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney signed an amendment to the existing Philadelphia paid sick and safe time law (the Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces Ordinance). The new amendment requires new public health emergency leave for employees who do not receive paid sick leave under the federal FFCRA. The new requirement was effective immediately upon the Mayor’s signing it last Friday, September 17 and is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2020. And finally, as we advised you two weeks ago, the New York paid sick leave law takes effect next Wednesday, September 30 with all eligible employees across the state being eligible to begin accruing paid sick leave as of that date, but that leave cannot be used by employees until January, 2021. In addition, the state Wage Theft Prevention Act was amended to require all employers in the state to maintain records – for no less than 6 years – of the “amount of sick leave provided to each employee.”