AbsentEase
Florida sick leave law & call-off rules
Florida is about as hands-off as employment law gets: no sick leave mandate, no state final-paycheck deadline, no required breaks for adults, no voting-leave law, and one of the strictest at-will doctrines in the country. The obligations that do exist are easy to miss precisely because everything else is optional — domestic-violence leave at 50+ employees, and county jury-pay ordinances in South Florida. Here is what applies in 2026.
Florida at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | None — and local sick-leave ordinances are preempted |
|---|---|
| Employment relationship | Strongly at-will — no common-law public-policy exception |
| Domestic violence leave | Required at 50+ employees: up to 3 working days per 12 months (FS 741.313) |
| PTO payout at termination | Not required — your written policy or contract governs entirely |
| Final paycheck deadline | No state or federal deadline — pay on the next regular payday |
| Meal & rest breaks | None for adults; minors 15 and under get a 30-minute meal break after 4 continuous hours, 16- and 17-year-olds only on days they work 8+ hours (FS 450.081) |
| FMLA (federal) | Applies at 50+ employees within 75 miles — 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected |
Is paid sick leave required in Florida?
No. Florida law does not require private employers to provide sick leave, paid or unpaid, and a 2013 preemption statute bars cities and counties from mandating it (it was passed specifically to kill a proposed Orange County measure). Your written policy and the federal floor are the whole framework.
The federal floor that still applies
FMLA
Employers with 50+ employees within 75 miles must give eligible employees (12+ months tenure, 1,250+ hours in the past year) up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for a serious health condition — their own or a close family member's. FMLA-protected absences can't accrue attendance points, and a call-off that mentions an ongoing condition can be notice enough to trigger your FMLA obligations, even if the employee never says "FMLA."
ADA
For employers with 15+ employees, the ADA can require modified attendance expectations or unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. An attendance policy applied "no exceptions" is exactly the kind that loses ADA cases — build an accommodation carve-out into the policy itself.
FLSA overtime and attendance bonuses
A cash bonus promised in advance for good attendance counts as wages under federal overtime law. It has to be added into the regular rate for the weeks it covers, so any of those weeks over 40 hours owes extra overtime on the bonus, usually recalculated after the bonus is paid. State overtime law can add to this, but can't go below it. See how attendance bonuses change overtime pay.
Call-offs, no-call no-shows, and firing in Florida
Florida employment is as at-will as it gets — the state recognizes no common-law public-policy exception, so a lawful attendance policy can be enforced right up to termination, including for a single no-call no-show. The protected categories are specific and statutory: workers' comp retaliation (FS 440.205), whistleblowing (FS 448.102), domestic-violence leave at 50+ employees (FS 741.313), and the federal FMLA/ADA floor. That short list is exactly why documentation matters here: with no state wage agency and most disputes landing in court or at the EEOC, the employer's contemporaneous records are usually the entire defense. A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system produces that record — every call-off, in the employee's own words, time-stamped.
After a no call, no show termination in Florida
| Does Florida law define job abandonment? | No statute or regulation defines job abandonment; it is set by employer policy. (Fla. Stat. § 443.101(1)(a); § 443.036(29)(c)) |
|---|---|
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a discharge | No state deadline statute; wages are due on the next regular payday under general wage-payment rules. Florida Statutes chapter 448 (General Labor Regulations) contains no final-pay deadline; its only general unpaid-wage provision is § 448.08, which lets a court award costs and a reasonable attorney's fee to the prevailing party in an action for unpaid wages. (None (no Florida final-pay statute); remedy Fla. Stat. § 448.08) |
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a resignation | No state deadline statute; wages are due on the next regular payday under general wage-payment rules. The same applies to resignations with or without notice. (None (no Florida final-pay statute); remedy Fla. Stat. § 448.08) |
| Accrued PTO at separation | No state requirement; owed only if your written policy promises it. No Florida statute requires payout of accrued vacation or PTO at separation; chapter 448 contains no vacation provision, so the employer's written policy or contract governs and a promised payout is enforceable only as a contract or unpaid-wage claim. (None (no Florida statute)) |
| Unemployment claims | Fla. Stat. § 443.101(1)(a) disqualifies a claimant who voluntarily left work without good cause attributable to the employer or who was discharged for misconduct connected with work; Fla. Stat. § 443.036(29)(c) defines misconduct to include 'chronic absenteeism or tardiness in deliberate violation of a known policy of the employer or one or more unapproved absences following a written reprimand or warning relating to more than one unapproved absence.' |
If a state agency later treats a "resignation" as a discharge, the discharge deadline governs, so pay by the earlier of the two when in doubt. Document each step with the no call, no show write-up and termination letter templates, which fill in Florida's final-pay rule.
Write a no call, no show policy that fits Florida
Start from our no call, no show policy guide and free template, or let the generator turn nine quick questions into a signature-ready policy with Florida already selected so the protected-leave section covers the federal FMLA and ADA rules that still apply here.
PTO payout and final paychecks
| Scenario | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Employee is fired or laid off | No state or federal deadline — pay by the next regular payday | No state statute |
| Employee quits | Same — next regular payday | No state statute |
| Unused vacation / PTO | Payout owed only if your written policy or a contract promises it; forfeiture policies are enforceable | Policy/contract law |
| Where wage disputes go | Florida has no state wage-claim agency — claims go to the federal DOL or court, where the written policy is the evidence | — |
With no state wage agency, the written policy is effectively the law of your workplace — make the payout rule say exactly what you intend. See how PTO accrual works.
Leave Florida employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic violence leave | Yes at 50+ employees | Up to 3 working days per 12 months for employees with 3+ months tenure (FS 741.313); firing or pointing these absences is unlawful |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid statewide | No firing (FS 40.271) — but Miami-Dade and Broward ordinances require covered employers to pay full-time employees on jury duty |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus Florida National Guard protections |
| Voting | No | Florida has no voting-leave requirement |
| Sick leave | No | Whatever your written policy provides |
The Florida employer's attendance playbook
- Put it in writing. A written policy — call-off deadline and channel, points or steps, the no-call no-show rule, and carve-outs for legally protected absences — is what makes discipline defensible. Our attendance policy guide walks through it.
- Give call-offs one channel. "Tell whoever answers" is how records get lost. One number every employee texts or calls makes the record automatic.
- Log everything with timestamps. Unemployment hearings and discrimination charges are won on contemporaneous records, not recollections.
- Enforce consistently. Uneven enforcement converts a lawful termination into a discrimination claim.
- Screen call-offs for protected reasons before applying points — sickness that could be FMLA/ADA territory gets a different track than an overslept alarm.
Comparing states? See all published guides on the state sick leave laws hub.