On October 27, 2020, New York City issued a new “Notice of Employee Rights: Safe and Sick Leave” that must be: (1) posted conspicuously in the employer’s place of business, in an area accessible to employees; (2) issued to current employees; and (3) provided to every new hire at the commencement of employment. The new notice may be accessed here. Currently, the notice is only available in English, but the City indicates on its website that it is working to translate it into other languages and will make those versions available soon.
The new notice provides employees with information regarding their rights under the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”), which affords eligible employees to up to 40 hours of paid sick and safe leave per calendar year. The Act was recently amended to follow the language of the recently enacted New York State Paid Sick Leave Law, which went into effect on September 30, 2020.
Under both the NYS and NYC laws, employers with 99 employees or less must allow employees to accrue one (1) hour of paid sick and safe leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 hours per calendar year. For employers with 100 or more employees, the accrual cap is 56 hours per calendar year. (Note: employers with four or fewer employees and less than $1,000,000 in annual net income only have to provide unpaid sick and safe leave but must comply with the law’s other requirements.)
The New York City law also requires that employers provide employees with information regarding their sick and safe leave accruals, either via the employees’ pay stubs or a separate document provided each pay period. This information must include: (1) the amount of sick and safe leave accrued during each pay period, (2) the amount of sick and safe leave used during each pay period, and (3) the total remaining balance of sick and safe leave as of the end of each pay period.
It is also worth noting that while both the NYC and NYS laws allow employees to use their accrued sick and safe leave for absences due to their own or a family member’s medical treatment or diagnosis, or for absences related to an employee or family member being a victim or domestic violence or similar offenses, the NYC law also allows paid sick and safe leave to be used for absences due to closure of the employee’s place of business or the employee’s child’s school or childcare provider that has been closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency. This additional reason may become relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic and employers should be aware that employees who perform any work in New York City (the 80 hour minimum has been removed from the law), even if the employer’s physical operations are not located there, may use their paid sick and safe leave for this purpose.
If you have any questions about the NYC and NYS paid sick and safe leave laws, or any other HR matter, please contact us at [email protected] or 631-794-7400.
