Under this historic law, certain employers must give their employees sick leave, which they can use for the care and treatment of themselves or a family member.
Covered Employees
If you work more than 80 hours a calendar year in New York City for an employer that has five or more employees, your employer must provide paid sick leave. If your employer has less than five employees, your employer must provide unpaid sick leave.
If you are a domestic worker who has worked for the same employer for at least a year and you work more than 80 hours a calendar year in New York City, your employer must provide two days of paid sick leave in addition to the three days of paid rest that you are guaranteed under New York State Labor Law.
Visit http://nyc.gov/PaidSickLeave for information specific to domestic employees. The law covers full-time and part-time employees, temporary employees, transitional jobs program employees, undocumented employees, employees who are family members but not owners, and employees who live outside of New York City but work in the City.
Sick Leave Accrual
If you are an existing employee – you were working for your employer before April 1 – you began accruing sick leave on April 1. Employees accrue one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours of sick leave per calendar year. Your employer determines the calendar year.
Notice of Employee Rights
Employers must give the required “Notice of Employee Rights” created by the Department of Consumer Affairs to new employees when they begin employment and to existing employees by May 1. The notice must be in English and your primary language if the translation is available at http://nyc.gov/PaidSickLeave. Currently, Spanish, Chinese, French-Creole, Korean, Italian, and Russian are available, and Arabic and Bengali versions will be available soon.
Use of Accrued Sick Leave
Existing employees can start using accrued sick leave on July 30. New employees who started work on or after April 1 can start using accrued sick leave 120 days after their first day on the job.
Retaliation
Your employer cannot retaliate against you for using sick leave. You have a right to file a complaint at http://nyc.gov/PaidSickLeave or by contacting 311.
More Information
For more information, visit http://nyc.gov/PaidSickLeave or contact 311 and ask for “Paid Sick Leave.”
