VT · state labor law, 2026
Vermont labor laws: minimum wage, overtime, leave, final pay and breaks
Vermont gives nearly every worker earned sick time, pegs the tipped wage at half the minimum and keeps its family leave unpaid but broad.
Vermont and federal rules checked on official sources on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Minimum wage now
- $14.42/h
- statewide
- Next change
- none announced
- checked October 11, 2026
- Tipped cash wage
- $7.21/h
- tips must make up the rest
- Overtime
- 40 h/week
- state law
- Paid sick leave
- 1 h per 52 h
- cap 40 h a year
- Paid family leave
- no program
- FMLA is unpaid
Vermont's minimum wage is $14.42 an hour in 2026, and its earned sick time builds more slowly than in most states with a law: one hour for every 52 hours worked, where 14 states use one hour per 30. The wage is indexed each January 1 to inflation, with any rise capped at 5 percent, and no 2027 figure had been published when this page was checked. Tipped staff in hotels, restaurants and tourist businesses who usually collect more than $120 a month in tips can be paid half the minimum, $7.21, as long as tips close the gap. Full time at the regular rate pays $29,994 a year. Overtime is owed after 40 hours a week, but the state rule leaves out hotels, motels, restaurants and retail or service businesses, where the federal law may still apply. A fired worker must be paid within 72 hours, and since 2025 unpaid family leave also covers bereavement.
Gross pay for this week in Vermont
$577
Time and a half after 40 hours in a week
| Minimum wage in Vermont now | $14.42 an hour |
| Your rate against it | At or above the minimum |
| Overtime: none this week | $0 |
| Paid sick leave earned in a year | 40 hours |
| Breaks owed in a 8-hour shift | State rule without a set length: see the state page |
| Final paycheck if fired | within 72 hours of discharge |
| Unused vacation at the end | Paid out if the employer policy or contract says so |
| Paid family leave | No state program |
40 hours a week at $14.42. State rule applied. Minimum wage, overtime and leave rules have exceptions by employer size and industry. How this is calculated.
Earned sick time at one hour per 52
Vermont's earned sick time law has applied since January 1, 2017 to employers of every size, but it protects only employees who average at least 18 hours a week, and seasonal jobs of 20 weeks or fewer sit outside it. The pace is slower than most. A full-time employee on 40 hours a week accrues 40 hours over a year, which is exactly the 40-hour ceiling an employer may set for a 12-month period. A part-timer on 25 hours a week ends the year with 25 hours, roughly three working days. An employer may also make new hires wait up to one year before they use the time. Each hour off is paid at the greater of the employee's normal hourly rate or the minimum wage, so a tipped server does not drop to $7.21 on a sick day; the floor is $14.42.
Sick leave you earn in a year
Hours earned in a year
30
| Rate | 1 hour per 52 hours worked |
| Cap (typical employer) | 40 hours |
| Weeks to earn one 8-hour day | 13.9 |
Family leave: unpaid, but wider since Act 32
Vermont runs no mandatory paid family leave insurance. Its Parental and Family Leave Act grants up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, and Act 32 of 2025 widened the reasons it covers. Parental, bereavement, safe and qualifying exigency leave apply at employers with 10 or more employees; family leave for a relative's serious illness applies at 15 or more. The employee must have averaged 30 hours a week for 12 months. Bereavement leave is limited to two weeks, or 10 workdays, with no more than five in a row, and must be taken within a year of the death. Those headcounts sit far below the 50 employees the federal FMLA requires, so a worker at a 20-person shop in Burlington can hold state protection that the federal statute would never give. The Department of Labor lists the categories on its Act 32 page.
Tipped pay and the hospitality gap in overtime
The tipped wage is written as one half of the state minimum, so it moves automatically with each January adjustment. Only employees of hotels, motels, tourist places and restaurants who customarily receive more than $120 a month in tips qualify, and the employer owes the difference for any hour where cash wage plus tips falls short of $14.42. Those same businesses are carved out of the state overtime rule. A line cook at a Stowe restaurant who works six eight-hour days gets no state overtime, yet the federal FLSA reaches most restaurants, so time and a half after 40 hours usually follows anyway. At a hypothetical $19 an hour, that week is worth $988, of which $228 is the overtime premium on 8 hours. The state rule earns its keep where the federal law does not reach.
The last paycheck and a meal rule with no clock
A discharged employee must be paid within 72 hours. Someone who quits is paid on the last regular payday, or on the following Friday where there is no regular payday. Vermont's break statute is a single sentence: employers must give reasonable opportunities during work periods to eat and to use toilet facilities. It sets no length and no hour by which the meal must come, so what counts as reasonable depends on the job and the shift. Either side may end a Vermont job at will. Wage claims go to the Wage and Hour Program of the Department of Labor, which decides each claim on its own facts, and states with fixed break schedules offer a useful contrast with this open wording.
Vermont employment rules at a glance, 2026
Minimum wage schedule
| From | Who it covers | Rate | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1, 2026 | Statewide | $14.42 | Indexed every January 1 (CPI-U or 5%, whichever is smaller) |
Workers covered by both laws get the higher rate. Read the Vermont rule.
Overtime
Time and a half after 40 hours in a week. The salary test for exempt employees is the federal $684 a week. Time and a half after 40 hours a week, but the state rule excludes employees of retail or service establishments, hotels, motels and restaurants, seasonal amusement establishments and some others (the federal FLSA may still apply to them). source
Sick leave and family leave
Paid sick leave: 1 hour for every 52 hours worked (Employer may cap accrual at 40 hours in a 12-month period; may impose a waiting period of up to one year before use for new hires.), all employers; covers employees working an average of at least 18 hours a week (seasonal jobs of 20 weeks or fewer excluded). Paid at the greater of the employee's normal hourly rate or the minimum wage. source
No state paid family leave insurance: the federal FMLA gives eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave. Vermont Parental and Family Leave Act (expanded by Act 32 of 2025): up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave in 12 months; parental, bereavement, safe and qualifying exigency leave at employers with 10+ employees, family leave at employers with 15+ employees (employees averaging 30+ hours a week for 12 months). source
Final paycheck and unused vacation
Fired or laid off: within 72 hours of discharge. Quitting: on the last regular payday, or the following Friday if there is no regular payday. Vacation: No Vermont statute found requiring payout of accrued vacation; follows employer policy or contract.. source
Meal and rest breaks
Meal: reasonable opportunities during work periods to eat (no fixed length or timing). Rest: reasonable opportunities to use toilet facilities. source
Unions and dismissal
Vermont has no right-to-work law, so a union contract may require a fee from the workers it covers. Employment is at will: either side may end it at any time, except for an illegal reason such as discrimination or retaliation, or against a contract.
Also worth knowing in Vermont
- Act 32 of 2025 widened unpaid leave: bereavement leave (up to 2 weeks, within one year of the death), safe leave and qualifying exigency leave, and a broader definition of family member. source
- Hotels, motels, restaurants and retail or service establishments are excluded from Vermont's overtime rule. source