AbsentEase
North Dakota sick leave law & call-off rules
North Dakota has no sick leave mandate — but it's the Plains outlier on two rules: earned vacation is a vested wage that a fired employee always gets paid (no policy language can strip it), and shifts over five hours with two or more employees on duty require a 30-minute meal period. Here is what applies in 2026.
North Dakota at a glance
| Paid sick leave mandate | None at the state level; state law bars local paid family leave mandates (N.D.C.C. 34-01-15.1) and local minimum wages (34-06-23) |
|---|---|
| Vacation at termination | Vested wage — fired employees must ALWAYS be paid earned vacation; forfeiture works only against short-tenure quits with written notice at hire |
| Meal break | 30 minutes on 5+ hour shifts when 2+ employees are on duty (waivable) |
| Voting leave | Not required — only 'encouraged' |
| Final paycheck deadline | Next regular payday, fired or quit |
| Employment relationship | At-will by statute (N.D.C.C. 34-03-01) |
| Jury duty | Protected, unpaid |
Is paid sick leave required in North Dakota?
No. North Dakota has no sick leave requirement, and state law bars local paid family leave mandates (N.D.C.C. 34-01-15.1, from HB 1398 in 2021) and local minimum-wage ordinances (N.D.C.C. 34-06-23) — neither expressly addresses a local paid sick-leave ordinance. Your written policy plus the federal floor governs — with the vacation and meal-break exceptions below.
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 North Dakota
North Dakota is at-will by statute, with public-policy retaliation and handbook-contract exceptions. Attendance enforcement is straightforward; the two state-specific habits are structural — schedule the 30-minute meal on qualifying shifts (an auto-scheduled field crew of two triggers it), and never net vacation out of a fired employee's final check, because the balance is vested regardless of policy. The Department of Labor and Human Rights handles wage claims. A call-off hotline or text-based call-off system keeps the absence record that supports the underlying discipline.
After a no call, no show termination in North Dakota
| Does North Dakota law define job abandonment? | No statute or regulation applying to private employers defines job abandonment or sets a consecutive-days threshold; it is set by employer policy. (N.D. Cent. Code § 52-06-02(1)(a), (2)) |
|---|---|
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a discharge | When an employer discharges or terminates an employee, unpaid wages are due at the regular paydays established in advance by the employer for the periods worked, and the employer must pay them by certified mail to an address the employee designates or as otherwise agreed; if the employer fails to pay within that time, the employee may collect the contract wage for each day of default, ceasing thirty days after the default. (N.D. Cent. Code § 34-14-03) |
| Final paycheck if you treat it as a resignation | An employee who separates from employment voluntarily, with or without notice, is paid under the same rule: unpaid wages are due at the regular paydays established in advance for the periods worked. The certified-mail requirement applies only to discharges. No distinction for notice. (N.D. Cent. Code § 34-14-03) |
| Accrued PTO at separation | Payout required by state law. Paid time off, once earned or awarded, is wages upon separation and must be paid at the regular rate if available for use at separation, and no employment contract or policy may provide for forfeiture of earned PTO upon separation (use-it-or-lose-it deadlines are allowed with a reasonable opportunity to take the time and proof of notice); the only exceptions are statutory: a private employer may withhold accrued PTO when the employee separated voluntarily, received written notice of the limitation at hiring, was employed less than one year, and gave less than five days' written or verbal notice (§ 34-14-09.2(1)), or when the PTO was awarded but not yet earned and written notice of the limitation was given before the award (§ 34-14-09.2(2)). (N.D. Admin. Code § 46-02-07-02(12); N.D. Cent. Code § 34-14-09.2(1), (2)) |
| Unemployment claims | A claimant who left the most recent employment voluntarily without good cause attributable to the employer is disqualified until earning at least eight times the weekly benefit amount (§ 52-06-02(1)(a)); a claimant discharged for misconduct in connection with the most recent employment is disqualified until earning at least ten times the weekly benefit amount (§ 52-06-02(2)); the statute does not define misconduct or mention absences, so a no-call, no-show is classified case by case. |
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 North Dakota's final-pay rule.
Write a no call, no show policy that fits North Dakota
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 North Dakota 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 | Next regular payday — including all earned vacation, which cannot be forfeited on an involuntary separation | N.D.C.C. 34-14-03, 34-14-09.2 |
| Employee quits | Next regular payday | N.D.C.C. 34-14-03 |
| Vacation forfeiture (quits only) | Allowed only if ALL of: written notice of the limit at hire, under 1 year of employment, and less than 5 days' notice of quitting | N.D.C.C. 34-14-09.2(1); N.D. Admin. Code 46-02-07-02(12) |
| Unused sick leave | Policy controls | — |
The vested-vacation rule surprises multi-state employers: the forfeiture clause that works in South Dakota is void against a fired North Dakota employee. See how PTO accrual works.
Leave North Dakota employers must (and must not) provide
| Leave type | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Meal break | Yes | 30 minutes on shifts exceeding 5 hours with 2+ employees on duty; unpaid only if fully duty-free; employee may waive |
| Jury duty | Yes — unpaid | Job-protected (N.D.C.C. 27-09.1-17) |
| Voting | No | State law encourages, but does not require, time off to vote |
| Military | Yes | USERRA (federal) plus North Dakota National Guard protections |
| Sick leave | No | Whatever your written policy provides |
The North Dakota 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.