Workplace Laws

Information for Employers on Paid Safe and Sick Leave

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Information for Employers on Paid Safe and Sick Leave

New Amendments

New Amendments to NYC’s Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law Will Take Effect in 2 Phases
(DCWP is in the process of updating and translating materials. Please continue to monitor nyc.gov/workers.)

Effective September 30, 2020, employers must:

  • provide domestic workers with 40 hours of paid safe and sick leave;
  • allow employees to use safe and sick leave as it is accrued;
  • reimburse employees who must pay for required documentation after three consecutive workdays of leave;
  • list on employees’ paystubs (or any document issued each pay period) the amounts of accrued and used leave and the total balance of accrued leave.
    Note: For this requirement only, employers that could not operationalize the documentation requirement by September 30, 2020 but are working in good faith on implementation will have up to January 1, 2021 to ensure compliance without a penalty.

Effective January 1, 2021:

  • Employers with 100 or more employees must provide up to 56 hours of paid leave.
  • Employers with four or fewer employees and a net income of $1 million or more must provide PAID leave.

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Important Information for Employers

Employers, including a nonprofit or small business, must provide safe and sick leave for their employees.

Employers must distribute the Notice of Employee Rights to their employees.

Read What Employers Need to Know.

Read Rules for Safe and Sick Leave Policies.

Read FAQs on NYC's Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law.

Read Answers to Employer Questions.

Employers of Domestic Workers: Learn how NYC's Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law affects you.



Employer Tools

Safe and Sick Leave Timekeeping Tools
DCA has developed tools to help you keep track of employees' hours worked and safe and sick leave used and automatically calculate accruals and end-of-the-year carryover of safe and sick leave. Use the tool that corresponds to how you keep track of hours worked: Daily, Weekly, or Biweekly (in Excel). Instructions are included with each tool. Note: To access tools, you must use Excel 2007 or later version. These tools are intended as an additional resource for employers. Employers can use the timekeeping method or service of their choice.

Model Form - Employee Verification Regarding Authorized Use of Earned Safe and Sick Leave
Under New York City's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law), employers are permitted to ask employees to verify that an instance of safe or sick leave of any length was used for an authorized purpose under the law. Download the model form.

Model Form - Employee Notification of Intention to Use Earned Safe or Sick Leave
Employers can require employees to sign a form if they want to use earned safe or sick leave for a foreseeable need. Download the model form.

Model Form - Employee Request to Make up Missed Work as Alternative to Using Earned Safe and Sick Leave
Making up missed hours or swapping shifts cannot be required and is only allowed if both the employer and employee consent. Employers can require employees to sign a form if they want to work additional hours instead of using their safe and sick leave. Download the model form.



A Clarification about Safe and Sick Leave Carryover and Accruals

For those employers who do not frontload safe and sick leave on the first day of a new calendar year, you must carryover up to 40 hours of unused safe and sick leave from one calendar year to the new calendar year. Additionally, you must allow an employee to accrue one hour of safe and sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 40 accrued hours in a calendar year. In other words, accrual of safe and sick leave in a new calendar year is independent of carryover of unused safe and sick leave from a previous year.

The chart below provides an example of how a hypothetical employee accrues and carries over safe and sick leave in four calendar years.

Example of An Employee's Safe and Sick Leave Hours Over 4 Calendar Years
Safe and Sick Leave HoursCalendar Year 1Calendar Year 2Calendar Year 3Calendar Year 4
Carried Over from Previous Calendar Year (capped at 40 hours) n/a 20 40 40
Accrued (capped at 40 hours) 40 40 40 40
Used (capped at 40 hours) 20 0 40 0
Unused 20 60 40 80


Paid Safe and Sick Leave and Weather

Employers are not required to provide paid safe and sick leave to employees who are late or absent as a result of the weather and employers are not required to provide leave if the employer is closed due to the weather. Read the Paid Safe and Sick Leave FAQs for more information.



Enforcement for Airline Flight Crew Employees

Read DCA Enforcement Policy with respect to coverage of airline flight crew employees under the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law).



Laws and Rules

Download the Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law/Rules packet.

Read Rules for Safe and Sick Leave Policies.

Retaliation and Interference are Against the Law
You are prohibited from interfering with investigations or retaliating against employees who exercise their rights under the Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law. DCA takes allegations of retaliation very seriously. If we determine that you retaliated against an employee, you may be responsible not only for lost wages and benefits to the employee and fines to DCA, but also may be required to take certain actions, including the rehire of an employee who has been unlawfully terminated.



Questions?

Have questions about NYC's Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law? Contact DCA in one of the following ways: