South Carolina — Leave Laws

Employers with 20 or more employees at one site in South Carolina must provide paid leave for employees to donate bone marrow. Eligible employees work an average of 20 or more hours per week. The employee determines the length of leave up to 40 work hours unless the employer agrees to a longer period. Employers may require physician verification of the purpose and length of each leave request. Retaliation against an employee for requesting or taking bone marrow donation leave is prohibited.

Source: S.C. Code § 44-43-80

State officers and employees, along with employees of political subdivisions (local governments), who accrue annual or sick leave are entitled to up to 30 regularly scheduled workdays of paid leave per calendar year to donate an organ. The leave is provided without loss of pay, time, leave credit, or efficiency rating. Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays do not count toward the 30-day limit unless they are regularly scheduled workdays for the particular employee. The employee must provide documentation from the attending physician before leave is approved confirming that the employee is the organ donor.

Source: S.C. Code § 8-11-65

South Carolina law prohibits employers from dismissing or demoting an employee because the employee complies with a valid subpoena to testify in a court proceeding or administrative proceeding or to serve on a jury of any court. The protection under S.C. Code § 41-1-70 applies broadly to jury service in any court and extends to employees who comply with subpoenas to testify in either court proceedings or administrative proceedings. An employer who violates this prohibition is subject to a civil action in circuit court for damages.

Civil remedies and damage caps

An employee who is discharged or demoted in violation of § 41-1-70 may bring a civil action in circuit court to recover damages. The statute imposes caps on compensatory damages:

• For dismissal: Damages are limited to no more than one year's salary or fifty-two weeks of wages based on a forty-hour week in the amount the employee was receiving at the time of receipt of the subpoena.
• For demotion: Damages are limited to the difference for one year between the salary or wages based on a forty-hour week which the employee received before the demotion and the amount the employee receives after the demotion.

The damage formulas use the compensation level at the time the employee received the subpoena (for dismissal) or before the demotion occurred (for demotion). The statute does not provide for reinstatement, punitive damages, or attorney's fees.

No requirement for paid leave

Section 41-1-70 does not require employers to pay employees their regular wages during jury service or while complying with a subpoena. The statute provides job protection—prohibiting discharge or demotion—but imposes no compensation requirement for time spent serving on a jury or testifying. Employers may offer paid jury duty leave through company policy or collective bargaining agreements, but South Carolina law does not mandate such payment for private-sector employees.

Use of accrued paid time off

The statute is silent on whether employers may require or permit employees to use accrued paid time off (vacation, sick leave, or personal days) to cover jury duty absences. Unlike some state jury-duty statutes that expressly forbid mandatory use of accrued leave, South Carolina's § 41-1-70 does not address this issue.

Statute of limitations

Section 41-1-70 does not specify a limitations period for civil actions brought under the statute.

Scope of protection

The statute applies to:

• Service on a jury of any court (federal, state, circuit, magistrate, or municipal);
• Compliance with a valid subpoena to testify in a court proceeding; and
• Compliance with a valid subpoena to testify in an administrative proceeding.

The employer action triggering liability is discharge or demotion because the employee complied with the subpoena or served on a jury. The employee must show causation—that the employer's adverse action was motivated by the employee's jury service or subpoena compliance.

Source: S.C. Code § 41-1-70