NY – Sick Leave Law by State

New York City Earned Sick Time Act

This is a general notice that some New York City employees may now be eligible to use sick time accrued according to the NYC Earned Sick Time Act.

As a reminder, the Act requires employers of five or more employees to provide paid sick leave to full and part time employees who work more than 80 hours per calendar year. Such employers are to provide a minimum of one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per calendar year. However, employers with five to 19 employees will receive a grace period until October 1, 2014. Employers with fewer than five employees are required to provide sick time, but it need not be paid.

Sick time began accruing April 1, 2014 or the first day of work for the employee, whichever was later. Because employees may begin to use sick time 120 days after it begins to accrue, some employees are now eligible to use it.

Media Services can provide reporting to help our clients verify sick time due. For purposes of the Act, the production company employers, and not the payroll company, are the employers of the personnel. The payroll company does not fund or administer required benefits under the Act. Remember also that if an employee has a break in service of less than six months, the employer is required to restore any unpaid accruals of sick time to the employee upon reinstatement. However, if the employee was paid for unused sick time at the point of separation from employment, or has a longer break in service, the employee would start their accruals from scratch, except there would be no 120 day waiting period.

Employers are required to provide an employee with written notice of the employee’s rights under the Act at commencement of employment. The notice must be in English, and if other than English, the primary language spoken by the employee, provided the Department of Consumer Affairs has made available a translation of such notice in such language.

There are exceptions that apply to the Act, including, but not limited to, if an employer already provides its employees with time off, vacation, personal days, or days of rest that meet the requirements of the Act and that can be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions of the Act, the employer need not provide additional sick time. Additionally, if employees are covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement (‘CBA’) that waives the provisions of the Act and provides for “comparable benefits” in the form of “paid days off” (as defined in the Act), then the Act does not apply. Click to download the Mandatory Notice of Employee Rights.

You can also read the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Paid Sick Leave Frequently Asked Questions for more clarification about your responsibilities under the Earned Sick Time Act.