Vermont sets a state minimum wage that adjusts every January, requires earned sick time for most employees, expanded its unpaid family and parental leave law in 2025 and gives fired employees only 72 hours to receive final pay. The Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) Wage and Hour Program enforces these rules, and most of them sit in Title 21 of the Vermont Statutes.
EZTime labor rule alerts flag overtime and missed rest periods before payroll.
| Topic | Rule |
|---|---|
| Minimum wage | $14.42 per hour since January 1, 2026. VDOL announcement |
| Tipped employees | $7.21 basic wage; tips must bring pay to the full minimum. VDOL minimum wage poster |
| Overtime | 1.5x regular rate after 40 hours a week; retail, hotels, restaurants and some others exempt from the state rule. 21 V.S.A. 384 |
| Meal and rest breaks | Reasonable opportunities to eat and use toilet facilities. U.S. DOL meal table |
| Earned sick time | 1 hour per 52 hours worked; up to 40 hours a year. VDOL sick time notice |
| Unpaid family and parental leave | Up to 12 weeks under Act 32 (10+ or 15+ employees). VDOL Act 32 page |
| Paydays | Weekly, or biweekly or semimonthly after notice; within 6 days of period end. 21 V.S.A. 342 |
| Final pay | Discharged: within 72 hours. Quit: next regular payday or the following Friday. |
| Child labor | Child labor certificates and federal-style hour limits for under 16. VDOL child labor |
Vermont's minimum wage is $14.42 per hour for 2026, up from $14.01, as VDOL announced in October 2025. The U.S. DOL state table notes the state law covers employers of two or more employees. Under 21 V.S.A. 384, the rate rises each January 1 by the smaller of 5% or the change in the CPI-U for the 12 months before the prior September 1, it never decreases, and the federal rate applies if it is ever higher.
As of early November 2026, VDOL's press release page has not yet published the rate that will take effect January 1, 2027. Last year's announcement came in early October, so check VDOL before you finalize January payroll; the adjustment takes effect on January 1 under the statute.
Employers in hotels, motels, tourist places and restaurants may pay a service or tipped employee a basic wage of half the minimum wage: $7.21 per hour in 2026, per the VDOL minimum wage poster. A tipped employee is someone who customarily and regularly receives more than $120 a month in tips for direct and personal customer service. If tips during a workweek do not bring the employee up to the full minimum for all hours worked, the employer must pay the difference. The DOL tipped table lists the same figures.
Vermont requires one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. There is no daily overtime for most employers. The state rule, in 21 V.S.A. 384(b), does not apply to several kinds of businesses, including:
Hospitals and nursing homes that meet the statute's conditions may instead pay overtime after 8 hours a day or 80 hours in a two-week period. Keep in mind that a state exemption does not cancel federal law: if your business or employee is covered by the FLSA, federal overtime still applies. Our FLSA overtime guide and overtime calculator can help you sort it out.
Vermont does not set a fixed break length. Under 21 V.S.A. 304, as summarized in the U.S. DOL meal-break and rest-period tables, employers with one or more employees must give workers reasonable opportunities during work periods to eat and to use toilet facilities to protect their health and hygiene. What counts as reasonable depends on the job and shift length, so a written break policy and a recorded meal period help show compliance. Breaks of roughly 5 to 20 minutes count as paid time under federal rules.
Under 21 V.S.A. 482, employees accrue at least 1 hour of earned sick time for every 52 hours worked. Employers may cap accrual at 40 hours in a 12-month period and may impose a waiting period of up to one year for new hires, during which time still accrues. VDOL's earned sick time notice says hours count toward accrual even when they are overtime, and lists permitted uses: the employee's or a family member's illness or injury, health care appointments, help after domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, and caring for a family member when a school or business closes for public health or safety reasons. The law has limited exemptions for certain seasonal and part-time work; confirm with VDOL whether an employee falls outside it. Model accruals with our PTO accrual calculator.
VDOL's Act 32 page explains the 2025 expansion. Employers with at least 10 employees must provide bereavement, safe, parental and qualifying exigency leave, and employers with at least 15 must also provide family leave for a serious health condition. Eligible employees, generally those averaging 30 or more hours a week over the past 12 months (20 hours over six months for safe leave), may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period. Bereavement leave is capped at two weeks and must be used within a year of the death.
21 V.S.A. 342 requires employers to pay wages weekly, but you may move to biweekly or semimonthly paydays after notifying employees in writing, a point the DOL payday table also reflects. Each paycheck must cover wages through a date no more than six days before payday; a collective bargaining agreement can extend that to 13 days.
Final pay deadlines depend on how the job ends:
Because 72 hours can fall before your next payroll run, plan an off-cycle check whenever you let someone go.
The U.S. DOL child labor table summarizes Vermont's limits for workers under 16: up to 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week, up to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week when school is out, no more than six days a week, and no work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. (9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day). The table lists no separate state hour limits for 16- and 17-year-olds. VDOL's child labor page provides the Child Labor Certificate Form and the WH-30 employer guide on federal and state rules, and recommends training supervisors, using distinct name tags for workers under 16, posting hour limits and labeling hazardous equipment. Confirm certificate requirements for a specific job with the Wage and Hour Program at 802-951-4083.
Keep FLSA-style records of hours and wages, plus earned sick time accrual and use for each employee. VDOL's mandatory workplace posters page lists the state notices, including the minimum wage, Vermonters Earned Sick Time, Parental and Family Leave, child labor, sexual harassment, pregnancy accommodations, unemployment insurance and workers' compensation posters, with a combined 2026 set for convenience. Replace the minimum wage poster each January when the new rate takes effect.
Vermont pairs a 1-per-52 sick time accrual with a 72-hour final pay rule, so up-to-date hours and balances matter every week. EZTime gives you a GPS mobile time clock with geofencing, NFC tags, a shared tablet kiosk and biometric clocks, so every punch is tied to the right person and place. Build schedules from shift templates and let staff request swaps, while overtime and break alerts warn managers before a shift crosses a limit. PTO and sick-leave balances update automatically, and timesheets export as payroll-ready Excel or PDF files that work with any payroll software. See the attendance clock and scheduling software, or check pricing: plans start at $2 per employee per month with a 14-day trial.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change; check the Vermont Department of Labor or an employment attorney. Last reviewed November 2026.
It is $14.42 per hour for employers with two or more employees. As of early November 2026, the Vermont Department of Labor had not yet published the January 1, 2027 rate.
Vermont’s state overtime rule exempts hotels, motels, restaurants and qualifying retail or service establishments, but federal FLSA overtime still applies to businesses and employees it covers.
Employees accrue at least 1 hour for every 52 hours worked. Employers may cap accrual at 40 hours in a 12-month period and may set a waiting period of up to one year for new hires.
A discharged employee must be paid within 72 hours. An employee who quits must be paid on the next regular payday, or the following Friday if there is none.
Vermont requires employers to give employees reasonable opportunities during work periods to eat and use toilet facilities, but it does not set a specific break length.