New York City Employers Will Soon Be Required To Approve Work Schedule Changes At Their Employees’ Request

On December 19, 2017, the New York City Council passed a bill requiring employers to grant employee requests for “temporary changes” to work schedules for “personal events.”  This bill takes effect on July 18, 2018.

What qualifies as a “personal event” triggering a mandatory schedule change? – “Personal events” requiring a schedule change include:

• When the employee is a caregiver who provides direct and ongoing care to a “care recipient,” and needs a temporary schedule change to provide this care. A “care recipient” under the bill is defined as a minor child or a disabled family or household member who relies on the employee for medical care or to meet the needs of daily living;
• When the employee needs the temporary schedule change to attend a legal proceeding or a hearing for government assistance benefits, to which the employee, the employee’s family member or a “care recipient” is a party; or
• Circumstances that qualify for sick time use under the New York City’s Earned Sick Time Act.

How many “temporary changes” are employees entitled to? – Eligible employees are entitled to two “temporary changes” to their work schedules in a calendar year, for up to one business day per request.  The employer may allow the employee to use two business days for one request, in which case it need not grant a second request.

What constitutes a “temporary change”? – A “temporary change” is defined as “a limited alteration in the hours or times that or locations where an employee is expected to work.”  A temporary change can include paid or unpaid time off, working from home, or changing work hours.

Who is eligible? – All non-government employees who work full time or part time within New York City for 80 or more hours per calendar year, and who have worked for the employer for more than 120 days.

Who is not eligible?

• Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that expressly waives the provisions of the bill and addresses temporary work schedule changes; and/or
• Certain employees whose jobs and whose employer’s primary business involves the development, creation or distribution of movies, TV programs or live entertainment presentations. Exceptions to this category apply.

What are the employee’s notice requirements? – To properly request a “temporary change” to his or her work schedule, an eligible employee must:

• Notify his employer or direct supervisor immediately upon learning of the employee’s need for the change;
• Propose a temporary change, unless the employee seeks unpaid leave; and
• Reduce his notification and proposal (if required) to writing no later than the second business day after he returns to work. The employer may permit the employee to satisfy this writing requirement by any electronic means (g., email or text message) commonly used by employees to request and manage time off or schedule changes.

What are the employer’s obligations? The employer must respond immediately to a request for a temporary schedule change by indicating:

• Whether the employer will grant the proposed temporary change, or, alternatively, will grant the change as unpaid leave;
• The reason for denying the request; and
• How many temporary change requests and business days to fulfill such requests the employee has left in the calendar year.

The employer’s response must be reduced to writing no later than 14 days following the request.

How does NYC’s temporary work schedule change bill interact with the New York City Earned Sick Time Act? – The New York City Earned Sick Time Act generally provides employees up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.  Employees who are eligible for a temporary work schedule change under this bill need not exhaust their earned paid sick time before requesting such changes. In addition, any unpaid leave granted for personal events under this bill does not count toward the obligation to provide earned paid sick leave pursuant to the Earned Sick Time Act.

For more information about how this new bill affects your company or how your company can effectively implement it into its existing practices and procedures, please contact John C. Petrella, Esq., Chair of the firm’s Employment Litigation Practice Group, at jpetrella@genovaburns.com, or Dina M. Mastellone, Esq., Chair of the firm’s Human Resources Practice Group, at dmastellone@genovaburns.com, or 973-533-0777.