{"id":592,"date":"2020-09-25T21:55:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T21:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forework.com\/?p=592"},"modified":"2022-12-30T12:14:24","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T12:14:24","slug":"preparing-for-the-new-york-state-paid-sick-leave-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forework.com\/preparing-for-the-new-york-state-paid-sick-leave-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for the New York State Paid Sick Leave Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
On April 3, 2020, New York State passed a law that will require employers with employees in New York to provide sick leave to their employees and, depending on the employer\u2019s workforce size, this leave may have to be paid. This article addresses some frequently asked questions regarding the NYS Paid Sick Leave Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All private-sector employers with workers in New York are covered by this law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The law takes effect 180 days after the enactment (i.e., September 30, 2020), and employees will begin accruing leave on that date. However, employees may NOT begin to use accrued NYS Paid Sick Leave until January 1, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employees\u2019 minimum accrual of time off under the NYS Paid Sick Leave Law is based on the employer\u2019s size:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To determine an employer\u2019s size under the law, a \u201ccalendar year\u201d is defined as the 12-month period from January 1 to December 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the purpose of using and accruing paid or unpaid leave under the law, a \u201ccalendar year\u201d means the 12-month period from January 1 through December 31, or any consecutive 12-month period, as determined by an employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employers have two options here. They can have the employee accrue as he\/she goes. The minimum accrual rate is 1 hour accrued, per 30 hours worked (just like the NYC Paid Sick Leave Law). Or, employers can provide employees with the entire amount of leave at the beginning of the year. But, an employer who chooses to give its employees all the leave at once may not later reduce the amount of leave if the employee does not work sufficient hours to accrue the amount provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The accrued time may be carried over to the following year. There is no requirement to pay it out to the employee. However, employers who carry over any such time will still be limited to using the annual maximum amount in \u201cyear 2.\u201d For example, if an employee has 10 hours accrued and left over in year 1, and the employee is working for a large employer, then in year 2, that employee will be able to use a total of 56 hours of paid sick leave (not 66 hours).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, the maximum usage is limited to 56 hours (or 40 hours, depending on the employer\u2019s size and net income). Even if an employee carries over unused time from a previous year, the employee is always limited to either 56 hours or 40 hours of paid NYS Paid Sick Leave time per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paid sick leave must be paid at the employees\u2019 regular rate of pay. If the regular rate is higher than New York minimum wage, employers are not permitted to pay for the use of NYS paid sick leave at the minimum wage rate. Again, the regular rate of pay must be paid when the paid time off is being utilized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe. As covered NYC employers know, they are required to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per NYC Safe and Sick Leave Law. Now, the NYS Paid Sick Leave Law requires (for large employers) that such employers provide at least 56 hours of paid sick leave. Such employers are required to provide a minimum total of 56 hours of paid sick leave. Such employers would not have to provide a total of 96 hours of paid sick leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe. First, the employer should consider its size. If the employer has 100 or more employees, then the employer will have to provide at least 56 paid sick leave hours per year to the employee. The employer\u2019s policy providing 40 hours of paid time off will no longer suffice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, if the employer at issue has 50 employees, for example, then that employer is only required to provide at least 40 hours of paid sick leave. And, in that case, the employer would not have to provide more time off to its than 40 hours per year. Note, even though the total time off would not change in this example, the employer would have to update its written paid time off policy to ensure that it complies with the NYS Paid Sick Leave Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employers are not required to pay employees for accrued and unused sick leave upon an employee\u2019s voluntary or involuntary separation from employment. To avoid any ambiguity in this regard, however, employers should have clearly written policies stating this forfeiture rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, employers must update their handbooks to reflect the new NYS Paid Sick Leave Law requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employers must track the amount of sick leave provided to employees. That information must be kept for at least six years, together with other information that an employer is obligated to keep and maintain as part of its payroll records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An employee may request, verbally or in writing, a summary of the amount of sick leave they have accrued and used in the current calendar year or any previous calendar year. The law requires that an employer provide that information to a requesting employee within 3 business days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On April 3, 2020, New York State passed a law that will require employers with employees in New York to provide sick leave to their employees and, depending on the employer\u2019s workforce size, this leave may have to be paid. This article addresses some frequently asked questions regarding the NYS Paid Sick Leave Law. 1. What employers …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employment-articles","category-manufacturing-industry"],"yoast_head":"\n