This post will guide you through employee leave laws for businesses and workers located in the state of Idaho.
Follow this guide to understand employers’ obligations for vacation time, paid time off (PTO), sick leave, parental leave, bereavement and more, along with state holidays observed in Idaho.
This page is intended for reference purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please see official government sources or consult a legal professional for actual legal advice.
No federal or state laws in the USA (including Idaho) require employers to provide paid or unpaid vacation time.
If employers choose to provide employees with paid vacation time/annual leave, they must comply with any details stated in employee contracts or leave policies.
There is no mention of Use It or Lose It policies in Idaho law, meaning these policies are legal to enforce for businesses in the state. Both unused sick leave and paid time off can be forfeited at the end of the year, unless this is contradicted by anything mentioned in an employee’s contract or company policy.
Use It or Lose It leave policies mean that any leave not used at the end of the year is forfeited, and not carried over to the following year. Learn more about Use It or Lose It policies here.
There is no requirement for Idaho employers to pay out any unused PTO or sick leave upon separation of employment (e.g. when an employee quits, is fired or is laid off).
There is no requirement in Idaho to provide paid sick leave.
Besides any state laws or provisions written into employment contracts, employers in Idaho must comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which entitles eligible employees the right to take 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for serious health conditions, or to care for spouses, children or parents with a serious health condition.
The following state holidays are observed in Idaho:
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year’s Day |
| 3rd Monday in January | Martin Luther King, Jr Day / Idaho Human Rights Day |
| 3rd Monday in February | Presidents’ Day |
| Last Monday in May | Memorial Day |
| June 19 | Juneteenth |
| July 4 | Independence Day |
| 1st Monday in September | Labor Day |
| 2nd Monday in October | Columbus Day |
| November 11 | Veterans Day |
| 4th Thursday in November | Thanksgiving |
| December 25 | Christmas Day |
Employers in Idaho are not required to provide paid or unpaid time off to employees on state holidays. Employees who work on a state holiday are not automatically entitled to additional benefits, such as extra pay or a compensatory day off.
There is no law regarding maternity leave in Idaho, although the federal FMLA applies to employees in the state (and across the nation). This act gives new mothers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth, adoption or foster of a new child.
Paternity leave is not covered by law in Idaho, but fathers receive the same rights under FMLA to up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth, adoption or foster of their new child.
There is no legal requirement to provide bereavement leave in Idaho, paid or unpaid.
There is no requirement to provide paid leave to employees for jury duty in Idaho. However, employers cannot discharge, discipline, coerce or threaten employees for responding to a jury summons or participating in jury duty.
There is no law in Idaho requiring employers to provide leave to allow employees to vote.
Federal Law (the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)) applies in Idaho, which states that military service members receive up to five years of unpaid leave for military service, and upon returning, must be reinstated to the same position (or an equivalent position) as they had before their leave.
Anything not covered in Idaho state leave laws is up to the discretion of the employer, such as whether or not to provide paid sick leave or PTO, or whether PTO rolls over from year to year.
However, if any benefits are laid out in an employee’s contract or company policy, employers must comply with what has been agreed in that document.
For example, if an employee’s contract states that they are to receive 12 days of PTO each year, the employer is legally required to provide this, even though paid time off is not required by state law.
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