Important Deadline Approaching Under New York City’s Paid Sick Leave Law

By Thursday, May 1, 2014, covered employers under New York City’s Earned Sick Time Act, also known as the Paid Sick Leave Law, must distribute a written notice to existing employees regarding their rights under the Paid Sick Leave Law. This notice is available on the Department of Consumer Affairs website: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/downloads/pdf/MandatoryNotice.pdf. This notice must also be distributed to all new hires, first employed on or after April 1, 2014. The notice must set forth your calendar year, including the start and end date as each employer’s calendar year may differ. Effective April 1, 2014, covered employers should have begun complying with the Paid Sick Leave Law. Under the Paid Sick Leave Law,  employers with 5 or more employees must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year for employees who work more than 80 hours per calendar year. A calendar year is defined as any regular and consecutive twelve month period of time as determined by the employer. Eligible employees accrue 1 hour for every 30 hours worked and should have begun accruing sick time effective April 1, 2014. Employees can begin using their sick leave 120 days after their first day of employment. For existing employees, this means that they can begin using their accrued sick leave as of July 30, 2014. Employers must retain records documenting compliance with law for at least three years. If your current paid leave policy provides eligible employees with paid leave that meets the requirements of the Act and allows employees to use the leave for the purposes covered under the Act, you are not required to provide additional leave. Please note that there are exceptions to the Paid Sick Leave Law. For example, employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement in effect as of April 1, 2014 will not be covered under the Act until the collective bargaining agreement terminates. The Act also does not apply to employees of government agencies. For more information on the Paid Sick Leave Law and how you it may affect your current policies, please contact Dena B. Calo, Esq., Director of the Human Resources Practice Group and Partner in the Employment Law & Litigation Group, at dcalo@genovaburns.com, or Erica B. Lowenthal, Esq., Associate in the Employment Law & Litigation Group, at elowenthal@genovaburns.com.