Prior to January 1, 2018 there was no sick leave or sick pay law in this regard. It was wholly voluntary for employers to provide sick leave at all, and it being voluntary, if an employer chose to provide sick leave, it could any limitations on it which the employer wanted, including the limitation you describe.From 1/1/18 forward, most employers in your state have to give employees 1 hour of sick leave for each 40 hours they work, and *must* let them use it (and be paid for it) from the very beginining of any absence. But because it is only for leave accrued under your state's new sick leave law since 1/1/18 and today is 1/14/18, an employee working 40 hours per week would only have accrued 2 - 3 hours covered by this law and subject to its protections--previously earned hours or days would be subject to whatever policy(ies) the employer chose.