Two years after the passage of paid sick leave in New York City, the Department of Consumer Affairs revises the rules implementing the City’s Earned Sick Time Act. The amendments are to help clarify the Act and add new employer obligations necessary to achieve the Act’s goals. As originally enacted, the paid sick leave law requires employers with five or more employees to provide eligible employees up to 40 hours of paid time off each year to care for themselves or a family member.
Under the new rules, calculating the number of employees an employer has within New York City is specified. For an employer that has operated for less than one year, the business size must be determined by counting the number of employees that perform work for compensation per week. However, if the number of employees fluctuates, the business size may be determined based on the average number of employees that performed work per week during the previous calendar year.
The rules also address joint employment issues. For purposes of enforcing paid sick leave obligations, the work of an employee employed jointly by two or more joint employers will be considered as a single employment. The rules also indicate that a temporary help firm must be responsible for providing paid sick time to each temporary employee placed in different organizations, regardless of the size of the organization. A “temporary help firm” is defined as “an organization that recruits and hires its own employees and assigns those employees to perform work or services for another organization to: (i) support or supplement the other organization’s workforce; (ii) provide assistance in special work situation including, but not limited to, employee absences, skill shortages or seasonal workloads; or (iii) perform special assignments or projects.”
The amendments allow employers to set a minimum increment of up to four hours per day for using sick time. Employers may also set fixed intervals for the use of sick time. For example, employees may be required to use sick time in half-hour intervals that start on the hour of half-hour. Furthermore, employers that require notice of the need to use sick time are required to provide a written policy that specifies the procedures employees must follow to give notice. The written policy must meet or exceed all of the requirements of the Earned Sick Time Act. The policy must contain the employer’s method of calculating sick time, details regarding the use of sick time, and how the employer carries over unused sick time at year-end.
New York City employers must take all necessary steps to ensure compliance with the City’s Earned Sick Time Act. For more information, click here.