(a) Each employer shall provide paid sick leave annually to each of such employer’s service workers in the state. Such paid sick leave shall accrue (1) beginning January 1, 2012, or for a service worker hired after said date, beginning on the service worker’s date of employment, (2) at a rate of one hour of paid sick leave for each forty hours worked by a service worker, and (3) in one-hour increments up to a maximum of forty hours per year. Each service worker shall be entitled to carry over up to forty unused accrued hours of paid sick leave from the current year to the following year, but no service worker shall be entitled to use more than the maximum number of accrued hours, as described in subdivision (3) of this subsection, in any year.

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(b) A service worker shall be entitled to the use of accrued paid sick leave upon the completion of the service worker’s six-hundred-eightieth hour of employment from January 1, 2012, if the service worker was hired prior to January 1, 2012, or if hired after January 1, 2012, upon the completion of the service worker’s six-hundred-eightieth hour of employment from the date of hire, unless the employer agrees to an earlier date. A service worker shall not be entitled to the use of accrued paid sick leave if such service worker did not work an average of ten or more hours per week for the employer in the most recent complete quarter.

(c) An employer shall be deemed to be in compliance with this section if the employer offers any other paid leave, or combination of other paid leave that (1) may be used for the purposes of § 31-57t, and (2) is accrued in total at a rate equal to or greater than the rate described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section. For the purposes of this subsection, “other paid leave” may include, but not be limited to, paid vacation, personal days or paid time off.

(d) Each employer shall pay each service worker for paid sick leave at a pay rate equal to the greater of either (1) the normal hourly wage for that service worker, or (2) the minimum fair wage rate under § 31-58 in effect for the pay period during which the employee used paid sick leave. For any service worker whose hourly wage varies depending on the work performed by the service worker, “normal hourly wage” means the average hourly wage of the service worker in the pay period prior to the one in which the service worker used paid sick leave.

(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section and sections 31-57t to 31-57w, inclusive, and upon the mutual consent of the service worker and employer, a service worker who chooses to work additional hours or shifts during the same or following pay period, in lieu of hours or shifts missed, shall not use accrued paid sick leave.

(f) No employer shall (1) terminate any employee, (2) dismiss any employee, or (3) transfer any employee from one worksite to another solely in order to not qualify as an employer, as defined in § 31-57r.