Sick time and wage history: 3 records to keep

Keep a dated wage rate history, sick-time accrual and use dates, and the payroll increment used to record sick time.

Key takeaways

Keep dated rows for wage changes and the job descriptions that applied.
Record sick-time accrual and use dates separately.
Record the payroll increment and when its setting changed.
Check one employee's files for missing dates today.

A pay question can come up long after the paycheck was issued, and a record made at the time is what lets you answer it.

The advice below is written for the person who keeps these records day to day. It assumes you already have time records and a sick-time balance for each employee, and it adds the fields you need to answer questions about pay and leave later.

All three come from specific state rules, and the official pages quoted here show what those rules say. Each rule holds only in the state named with it. Your city, your state, or your union contract may add other requirements, so check them with your employment counsel or the agency that enforces them. This post is general information, not legal advice.

What is a wage rate history, and how long should you keep it?

Under Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, SB19-085 on the Colorado General Assembly website, employers are required to maintain records of job descriptions and wage rate history for each employee while employed and for 2 years after the employment ends.

That rule applies in Colorado. Do not apply that retention period to employees who work somewhere else without checking their state's requirements. If your crew works in more than one state, write down the rule for each state next to the records it affects.

A wage rate history is a dated list of what each person was paid and when the pay changed. It answers questions that a current pay statement cannot. It does not show what the rate was last spring, why it went up, or which job description applied at the time. The history fills that gap.

Set it up with one row for each change, not one cell per person that gets overwritten. Each row should hold:

The employee's name or ID number.
The effective date of the rate.
The hourly rate before the change and the rate after it.
The reason for the change, such as an annual raise, a promotion, or a move to a different job.
The job title and job description that applied during that period.

Keep the job description with the rate. Keeping them in the same file makes the set easier to pull up when someone asks for it.

Do not overwrite an old rate when you enter a new one. Add a new row. The old rate stays on record with its date, and anyone who reads the file can follow the changes in order.

Corrections should follow the same idea. If an entry is wrong, add a new row that shows the correct value, the date you made the correction, and a short note about what changed. Erasing the original makes it hard to see what the file said at the time.

Transfers and promotions deserve their own rows. When someone moves to a different job, the job title and description change on that date. Add a row for the move even if the hourly rate stays the same, so the file shows when the job description changed.

Enter the end date when an employee leaves. Use that date to count the retention period. Keep it in the same file as the rest of the history, not in a separate folder.

When an employee asks why their rate changed, the history gives you the effective date and the reason on record. Share the relevant row rather than relying on memory.

Finally, decide who may enter and approve changes. A second person who checks each new row before it goes into the history is a simple control, and it gives you a record of who approved the change. For related record fields, see pay change notices.

Review the rate history at the end of each pay period in which a rate changed, and once a year for every employee, even when nothing has changed. An annual check can catch gaps that a single change would not show.

Keep the rate history where payroll and HR can both reach it, but limit editing rights to the people who approve pay changes. Back up the file on the same schedule as your payroll data, and test a restore at least once a year so you know the backup opens.

When does sick time start to accrue, and when can it be used?

Under Massachusetts' earned sick time law, employees begin accruing earned sick time on the date of hire or the date the law becomes effective, whichever is later, and they are not entitled to use accrued earned sick time until the 90th calendar day following commencement of their employment. The text comes from chapter 149, section 148C of the Massachusetts General Laws.

Accrual and use are separate questions. The same section says, "On and after this 90 day period, employees may use earned sick time as it accrues."

That means two dates can differ for the same person: the day accrual starts and the day use opens. Recording both lets you check a sick-time request against the rule later, instead of working it out from memory when the request comes in.

For each Massachusetts employee, keep these entries in the file:

The date of hire.
The accrual start date.
The date use opens.

Write the date use opens as its own field. That way nobody has to count calendar days by hand when a request comes in.

When a request comes in before the waiting period ends, write down the date that period ends, the date of the request, and how you responded. That note records how the request was handled, so the decision can be reviewed later. For related setup checks, see sick leave settings.

The Massachusetts section also covers employees who are exempt from overtime requirements under 29 U.S.C. section 213(a)(1) of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. For those employees, the same section says they "shall be assumed to work 40 hours in each work week for purposes of earned sick time accrual unless their normal work week is less than 40 hours, in which case earned sick time shall accrue based on that normal work week."

For that reason, record each exempt employee's normal work week next to the accrual entries. If the normal work week changes, add a dated row that shows the new number of hours, so the accrual figure for any period can be traced.

Illustrative example: recording a work week

An exempt employee has a normal work week of 10 hours. Record 10 hours beside the accrual entries, with the date that schedule starts. If the normal work week later changes, add a dated row rather than replacing the old entry.

The same section also covers employees who are not entitled to earned paid sick time from an employer pursuant to subsection (d)(4)–(5). The source says those employees "shall be entitled to earn and use up to 40 hours of earned unpaid sick time from that employer as provided in subsection (d) in a calendar year."

Keep a running total for each calendar year rather than one total for the whole job.

A simple sick-time record covers all of this. Give each employee a row for every use, with the date, the hours, the increment that applied, the running balance, and the calendar-year total. Mark paid and unpaid hours in separate columns so the two stay distinct.

When an employee asks about their balance, show them the record rows that lead to it. A balance with no entries behind it is harder to explain later.

How should sick time be recorded in increments?

Under Massachusetts' earned sick time law, earned sick time "shall be used in the smaller of hourly increments or the smallest increment that the employer's payroll system uses to account for absences or use of other time." The text is on the same Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 149, Section 148C page.

Your record should show which increment applied to each sick-time entry, so the entry can be checked against that sentence later.

Start with the payroll system. Record its smallest increment for absences or use of other time, and the date you confirmed that setting. If the setting changes, keep the old and new settings, each with its date. A sick-time entry from before the change then still shows the increment that applied when it was made.

In each record row, record the increment next to the hours. Hours alone do not show how the time was measured, and a question about one entry is much easier to answer when the increment sits on the same line.

Suppose your system tracks absences in quarter-hour blocks. The entry should show the quarter-hour setting and its date, so anyone checking the record later can see the increment that was in use. Compare the setting with the rule when you first set it up, and again whenever the setting changes.

Check the Massachusetts entries before you close each pay period. A short check at that point is easier than reconstructing a sick-time question months later from scattered notes.

If the record and the payroll system show different increments for the same entry, do not pick one without a note. Write down both values, the date you found the difference, and which one you corrected. Then check the entry against the Massachusetts rule quoted above, so the correction has a reason on file.

How do you find these records when someone asks?

Find them by employee first, then by date, starting from the record the question is about. A file organized the same way for every employee is quicker to search than one organized in whatever order the paperwork arrived.

Use one date format across every record, such as year, then month, then day. Mixed formats are hard to sort, and a sorting error can put a rate change in the wrong order. Use the same employee ID in the rate history, the sick-time record, and the accrual entries, so a single search finds all three.

Name files consistently. A file name that includes the employee's ID and the record type, such as rate history or sick-time record, lets someone find the right file without opening several. Keep Colorado and Massachusetts records clearly marked, so the state rule attached to each record is visible without a separate lookup.

When a question comes in, answer it from the records, not from memory. Start with the rate history for the period in question, then the sick-time record, then the increment setting that applied on those dates. Write down what you found and when you found it. That gives you a clear trail if the question comes back. Use the payroll handoff checks when preparing records for the next payroll review.

Which mistakes should you avoid with these records?

Three mistakes make later questions harder to answer: overwriting old rates, leaving out dates, and changing a payroll setting without a note of when it changed.

Overwriting an old rate removes the record of what was paid before. Leaving out a date means you cannot tell when a rate or an accrual entry took effect. Changing a payroll setting without a note means an entry from one period may look as though it followed a different increment than the one in force when it was made.

Another mistake is treating the three records as separate projects. The rate history, the Massachusetts accrual dates, and the increment setting all relate to the same employee's pay and leave. Review them together at each pay period and at each rate change. Keeping the sick-time record apart from the accrual dates is another. A person checking one request then has to search two places for the start date and the balance.

Keep a short written note of who set up the records and when. If the person who built the files leaves, the note tells the next person where each record lives and how it is kept.

What should you check this week?

Start by comparing your current files against the three records above and filling in any missing fields. Work through this list in order, and write the date you finished each item on the file.

Open each employee's rate history and confirm that every change has an effective date, the rate before and after, a reason, and the job description in effect.
For employees who work in Colorado, confirm that each file with an end of employment shows that end date.
For employees who work in Massachusetts, confirm that each file holds a date of hire, an accrual start date, and a date use opens.
For exempt Massachusetts employees, confirm the normal work week hours are recorded alongside the accrual entries.
Confirm the smallest payroll increment for absences or use of other time against the quoted rule, and record the sick-time increment with its date.
Start a calendar-year total of unpaid sick hours for eligible employees, and keep it separate from paid sick time.

Ask a second person to read one employee's files from start to finish. If they cannot tell from the file what the rate was on a given date, or how a sick-time balance was built, add the missing field before you move on to the next employee.

Once the files are complete, you may choose to give each employee a copy of their current rate and sick-time balance. Keep a dated record of any copy you give an employee.

Today, open one employee's file and check that its rate history, sick-time dates, and increment setting are dated and easy to find.

Which rules does this post cover?

This post covers Colorado's record-keeping rule for wage rate history and job descriptions, and Massachusetts' earned sick time rules.

Does this cover other states or cities?

No, this post does not cover rules from other states, cities, or agencies. If your crew works in other places, look up those rules before you set retention periods and sick-time settings for those employees.

Where can you read the rules?

The quoted sources are linked where they appear, so you can read the full section each one came from before you apply it to your own payroll.

When you share these records with a new payroll or HR staff member, include the links from this post along with the files. The rule text defines what each field is for, so a new reader who has it can check the fields against the source.