South Dakota — Leave Laws

South Dakota has no law requiring private employers to provide paid leave of any type, including paid sick leave or paid vacation. Paid leave in South Dakota is a matter of employer policy rather than statutory mandate. Employers that voluntarily offer paid leave must follow their own established policies.

Source: South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, What You Need to Know About Labor and Employment Laws (Rev. 01/2026)

South Dakota law prohibits employers from discharging or suspending any employee for serving as a juror. An employee serving as a juror must retain and be entitled to the same job status, pay grade, and seniority the employee held prior to jury service. Employers are not required to provide paid time off for jury duty; whether the absence is paid or unpaid is left to the employer's discretion.

Statutory authority. South Dakota Codified Laws § 16-13-41.1 provides that no employer may discharge or suspend an employee for performing jury duty, and § 16-13-41.2 guarantees restoration to the same pay, status, and seniority as before service. The law is silent on any requirement for paid leave.

Source: S.D. Codified Laws § 16-13-41.1, S.D. Codified Laws § 16-13-41.2

South Dakota requires employers to provide paid time off for employees to vote, but only when the employee lacks sufficient non-working time to vote while polls are open. Under S.D. Codified Laws § 12-3-5, an employee who does not have two consecutive hours of off-duty time available while the polls are open—either before the employee's shift begins or after it ends—is entitled to absent themselves from work for up to two consecutive hours to vote. The time off must be paid; the employer may not impose any penalty or make any deduction from the employee's usual salary or wages on account of the absence.

Employer control over timing. Although the employee is entitled to the leave, the employer retains the right to designate when during the employee's shift the two-hour absence will occur. The statute does not require advance notice from the employee, nor does it prescribe a procedure for requesting leave; it simply confers the right when the non-working-time threshold is not met.

Application to all elections. The statute applies to any election in which the employee is entitled to vote, not solely general or statewide elections. Employers should track local, primary, and special-election dates in addition to November general elections.

Criminal penalty for noncompliance. An employer who refuses an employee the privilege conferred by § 12-3-5, who subjects an employee to a penalty or wage reduction because of exercising the right, or who otherwise violates the section commits a Class 2 misdemeanor under South Dakota law. Under S.D. Codified Laws § 22-6-2, a Class 2 misdemeanor is punishable by up to 30 days in county jail, a fine of up to $500, or both.

Contrast with jury duty leave. While South Dakota protects employees from discharge or suspension for jury service (S.D. Codified Laws §§ 16-13-41.1 & 16-13-41.2), jury duty leave need not be paid. Voting leave is unusual among South Dakota's leave protections in mandating pay, not merely job protection.

Source: S.D. Codified Laws § 12-3-5

Witness leave. As of June 2026, South Dakota statutory law does not mandate job-protected or paid leave for employees who are subpoenaed as witnesses in criminal or civil proceedings. No provision is found in the South Dakota Codified Laws that requires private employers to provide leave, paid or unpaid, for employees to attend court as a witness. This is distinct from jury duty, which the state separately protects (see Jury Duty Leave section and S.D. Codified Laws §§ 16-13-41.1 & 16-13-41.2). Employers may choose to grant such leave, but there is no affirmative statutory entitlement or protection against discharge for witness attendance.

Victims of crime. South Dakota law likewise contains no private-sector mandate for leave rights—job-protected or otherwise—for employees who are victims of a crime, including for purposes such as attending court proceedings, seeking medical attention, or participating in investigations. S.D. Codified Laws § 23A-28C enumerates certain rights for crime victims, but these rights pertain to the criminal justice process and do not establish leave protections in the employment context. South Dakota has not enacted a specific crime-victim leave law applicable to private employers as of this date.

Jury duty is the exception. Jury duty is separately protected and detailed in the guide's "Jury Duty Leave" section. For all other court-related absences, no statutory job protection, paid, or unpaid leave right exists in South Dakota statute for private employees beyond what is required under federal law in limited anti-retaliation contexts.

Source: South Dakota Codified Laws, S.D. Codified Laws § 23A-28C (Victim's Rights), SD Unified Judicial System Juror Resources

South Dakota does not impose any private-sector military leave obligations beyond the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA, 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301–4335). USERRA guarantees job-protected leave, reemployment rights, and protection from discrimination for employees serving in the uniformed services, including the National Guard when activated under federal authority. USERRA’s requirements—such as advance notice “unless precluded by military necessity or otherwise impossible or unreasonable” (38 U.S.C. § 4312(a), (b)), prompt reinstatement, and status/seniority restoration—apply to all South Dakota private employers by federal law.

No South Dakota statutory overlay for private employers. The South Dakota Codified Laws contain no requirements for private-sector employers to provide leave, pay, job protection, reemployment rights, or notice procedures for National Guard or other military service, beyond what USERRA already provides. SDCL § 3-12C-514, sometimes referenced in this context, applies solely to public employees (addressing retirement service credit for returning service members). There is no counterpart statute applying to the private sector. State administrative rules, such as ARSD 55:09:04:12, concern family and medical leave related to a family member’s military service, not job protection or reemployment for the employee’s own military service.

Summary for employers:

• No state law mandates paid or unpaid military or National Guard leave for private employees.
• No state law grants additional job protection, notice, or reemployment rights to private-sector service members beyond USERRA.
• Public employee provisions (e.g., SDCL § 3-12C-514) do not extend to private employers.

For federal protections and minimum requirements, see the federal leave laws guide: /guides/united-states/leave-laws#userra.

Source: SDCL § 3-12C-514, ARSD 55:09:04:12, USERRA, 38 U.S.C. § 4312

South Dakota does not require private employers to provide leave—paid or unpaid—for employees to attend their children's school activities, parent-teacher conferences, or related educational functions. As of June 2026, there is no statute in the South Dakota Codified Laws and no Department of Labor and Regulation publication that mandates school activities leave for private sector workers. School activities leave laws, sometimes called "parental involvement" leave, are enacted in several other states to guarantee parents time off to participate in school events, but South Dakota has not adopted such a statute for private employment. Any such leave is left entirely to the employer’s discretion or workplace policy.

This position is corroborated by the absence of reference to mandatory school activities leave in official state resources covering required leaves (including jury duty, voting, and military leave), as well as the silence of S.D. Codified Laws on the topic.

For employees in South Dakota's public sector, different obligations may apply; those are governed by separate policies or statutes.

Source: South Dakota Codified Laws, South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation — What You Need to Know About Labor and Employment Laws

South Dakota's voting leave statute, S.D. Codified Laws § 12-3-5, does not explicitly require employees to give advance notice to their employer before taking voting leave. The text of the statute provides that any voter entitled to vote at any election in South Dakota who does not have two consecutive non-working hours while polls are open is entitled to absent themselves from work for up to two consecutive hours. The law grants employers the right to select the hours during which the employee may be absent, but it does not specify a procedure for requesting such leave or imposing a notification obligation on employees.

Key statutory language:

• The statute's operative language is: "Any voter in this state who does not have two consecutive hours of nonworking time during the period the polls are open...is, upon application, entitled to absent himself or herself from work for a period of two consecutive hours between the time of opening and closing the polls." The phrase "upon application" suggests that an employee seeking leave must affirmatively apply for it, but the law is silent on what counts as sufficient notice or whether it must be provided in advance. No minimum notice period (such as one day, or any other duration) is defined.

Employer right to designate hours:

• The employer may specify when during the shift the employee can take the two hours off, providing some operational control, but the statute does not require the employee to notify the employer within a specific window before Election Day.

No implied advance notice:

• Secondary sources occasionally note a "best practice" of notice or prompt application, but as a matter of statutory text, there is no affirmative advance notice requirement. The only positive obligation is the employee's "application" for time off.

In sum, South Dakota law does not require employees to provide any set amount of advance notice to employers when requesting voting leave. Employers may request reasonable notice as a workplace policy, but such a policy is not compelled, or even addressed, by state statute.

Source: S.D. Codified Laws § 12-3-5

South Dakota law does not require private employers to pay out accrued but unused vacation or PTO at termination or resignation. The controlling statutes—SDCL § 60-11-11 (final wages for private employees) and related provisions—do not address vacation or PTO specifically. This means payment of unused vacation or PTO at separation is governed solely by the employer’s written policy, contract, or employee handbook. If an employer promises payout of accrued vacation or PTO in its policy or contract, that promise controls. If the policy is silent or specifically excludes payout at separation, South Dakota law does not override that position—there is no statutory mandate either way.

Use-it-or-lose-it and forfeiture policies The South Dakota Codified Laws neither prohibit nor address “use-it-or-lose-it” or forfeiture policies for private employers. There is no statute, regulation, or Department of Labor publication restricting the design or implementation of policies under which employees forfeit unused vacation or PTO, as long as those policies are clearly stated and communicated in advance. The law is silent on this point for private-sector employment as of June 2026.

Public-sector (state government) exception South Dakota state employees, by contrast, are covered by a specific statute. Under SDCL § 3-6C-6, eligible state employees who retire or voluntarily resign may elect to use accrued vacation leave or receive a lump-sum payment for unused vacation leave accrued as of their final day on payroll. This statutory right is limited to state government (public-sector) workers and does not apply to private employment.

In summary: For private employees, whether vacation or PTO is paid out at separation depends entirely on the terms set by the employer’s written policy or contract. South Dakota law is silent on both payout and forfeiture rules for private-sector vacation or PTO. For state employees, SDCL § 3-6C-6 provides a clear payout mechanism at separation.

Source: S.D. Codified Laws § 3-6C-6, S.D. Codified Laws § 60-11-11