You don’t know you need HR, until you NEED HR.

It’s 2025 and you are a small business owner with 10 employees, a combination of full- and part-time employees. You do not have a sick pay policy; your employees either take their sick time unpaid or use whatever time off they have accrued. This has been working great for you, your employees, and your business. You had heard that effective 1/1/2025, there was a revision to the CT Paid Sick Leave Law, but since you had less than 25 employees, you did not pay too much attention to it.

Now it’s 2026 and effective 1/1/2026, the revised law mandates private sector employers, with at least 11 employees to provide eligible employees with paid sick leave. Again, you are not too worried about it because you have 10 employees…BUT what you may not be aware of is that you WILL need a Paid Sick Leave Policy established prior to 1/1/2027.

Effective 1/1/2027, a private sector business with any employees (minimum of 1), must provide paid sick leave for their employees.

WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?

• You have read the law but do not know how to write a policy for your business.

• This law means you now have to pay 40 hours of paid sick time to your 10 employees, and this adds an additional cost that impacts your business’s bottom line.

REACH OUT TO TRUE NORTH HR CONSULTING, AND I CAN ASSIST YOU THROUGH THIS PROCESS.

Welcome to True North HR’s “How to be a Resource to Humans” blog

Welcome to the Blog!

I'm Jessica Stevens, a Connecticut-based HR consultant with over 25 years of experience helping businesses build HR functions that are compliant, effective, and built to last.

Throughout my career, I've worked across union and non-union environments, supported C-suite leaders, and helped organizations in manufacturing, logistics, and community operations get their HR house in order. I've seen what happens when HR is done well — and what it costs when it isn't.

I started this blog because I know firsthand how overwhelming HR can be — especially for growing businesses that don't yet have dedicated HR support.

I also know what it’s like to be part of a small HR team, even an HR Team of one (ugh)! So, whether you're navigating a compliance issue, dealing with a tricky employee situation, or trying to figure out where to even start with HR, you're in the right place.

My goal here is simple: to share practical, no-nonsense HR guidance that helps you lead your people with confidence and protect your business along the way.

Let’s start our journey to “be a resource to humans!”