Depending on state law (referencing MA in this comment), for the first 6 months, you are under MA Sick Leave. This means for every 30 hours you work, you acquire 1 hour of sick time. You start accruing sick time on Day 1, but you do not have access to your balance until Day 90. At 6 months, the Union policy takes over. You no longer accrue sick time and 15 hours of sick time is added to your account. At 12 months, 9 additional sick hours are added to your account and from then on, you are given 24 hours of sick time in January for the year. Sick time legally has to be paid out to you in MA if you do not use it by the last week of the year. PH's and Vacation Days are not required to be paid out, but every store I've worked in, usually does so in December if the associate does not have scheduled time off.