Effective now, New York City has amended its current Paid Sick Leave law to require employers to allow covered employees to use earned leave for safe leave purposes.
The amended law does not require employers to provide additional time off. Instead, the amended law states that employees should be able to use earned sick time to address issues relating to domestic violence, sexual offense, stalking or human trafficking.
Who needs to comply: An employer must provide Safe and Sick Leave to employees (regardless of full-time, part-time, per diem status) who work more than 80 hours per calendar year in New York City.
Please note that making deliveries and pickups in NYC is considered to be performing work in NYC. Covered employees are those that work in New York City, even if the employer is located outside of NYC.
Action needed by employers: Employers must provide the Notice of Employee Rights to each affected employee by June 4, 2018.
To demonstrate compliance with the City’s deadlines, employers will be required to retain records proving that they distributed the new policies and notices to current and new employees by June 4, 2018.
Employers do not have to provide safe and sick leave to the following employees:
- Employees who work 80 hours or less a calendar year.
- Students in federal work study programs.
- Employees whose work is compensated by qualified scholarship programs.
- Employees of government agencies.
- Physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, audiologists who are licensed by the New York State Department of Education if they call in for work assignments at will, determine their own work schedule, have the ability to reject or accept any assignment referred to them, and are paid an average hourly wage, which is at least four times the federal minimum wage.
- Independent contractors who do not meet the definition of an employee under New York State Labor Law.
- Participants in Work Experience Programs.
- Certain employees subject to a collective bargaining agreement. In the case of collective bargaining agreements, employees are not covered by the law if the agreement expressly waives the law’s provisions and provides comparable benefits. However, for employees in the construction or grocery industry covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the law does not apply if the agreement expressly waives the law’s provisions. For guidance on collective bargaining agreements, read Frequently Asked Questions.
For more information, including model forms, rules and FAQs, click here. If you have any questions pertaining to this update, please contact me.
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