a. All employees have the right to safe/sick time pursuant to this chapter.
1. All employers that employ five or more employees, all employers of one or more domestic workers, and any employer of four or fewer employees that had a net income of one million dollars or more during the previous tax year, shall provide paid safe/sick time to their employees in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. An employer shall pay an employee for paid safe/sick time at the employee's regular rate of pay at the time the paid safe/sick time is taken, provided that the rate of pay shall not be less than the highest applicable rate of pay to which the employee would be entitled pursuant to subdivision 1 of section 652 of the labor law, or any other applicable federal, state, or local law, rule, contract, or agreement. Such rate of pay shall be calculated without allowing for any tip credit or tip allowance set forth in any federal, state, or local law, rule, contract, or agreement.
2. All employees not entitled to paid safe/sick time pursuant to this chapter shall be entitled to unpaid safe/sick time in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
b. All employers shall provide a minimum of one hour of safe/sick time for every thirty hours worked by an employee, provided that employers with ninety-nine or fewer employees shall not be required under this chapter to provide more than a total of forty hours of safe/sick time for an employee in a calendar year and further provided that employers with one hundred or more employees shall not be required under this chapter to provide more than a total of fifty-six hours of safe/sick time for an employee in a calendar year. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to discourage or prohibit an employer from allowing the accrual of safe/sick time at a faster rate or the use of safe/sick time at an earlier date than this chapter requires.
c. An employer required to provide paid safe/sick time pursuant to this chapter who provides an employee with an amount of paid leave, including paid time off, paid vacation, paid personal days or paid days of rest required to be compensated pursuant to subdivision 1 of section 161 of the labor law, sufficient to meet the requirements of this section and who allows such paid leave to be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as safe/sick time required pursuant to this chapter, is not required to provide additional paid safe/sick time for such employee whether or not such employee chooses to use such leave for the purposes included in section 20-914 of this chapter. An employer required to provide unpaid safe/sick time pursuant to this chapter who provides an employee with an amount of unpaid or paid leave, including unpaid or paid time off, unpaid or paid vacation, or unpaid or paid personal days, sufficient to meet the requirements of this section and who allows such leave to be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions as safe/sick time required pursuant to this chapter, is not required to provide additional unpaid safe/sick time for such employee whether or not such employee chooses to use such leave for the purposes set forth in section 20-914 of this chapter.
d. Safe/sick time as provided pursuant to this chapter shall begin to accrue at the commencement of employment or on the effective date of the local law that created the right to such time, whichever is later. An employee shall be entitled to use safe/sick time as it is accrued, except that employees of any employer of four or fewer employees that had a net income of one million dollars or more during the previous tax year may use paid safe/sick time as it is accrued on or after January 1, 2021, and that employees of any employer of one hundred or more employees may use any accrued amount of paid safe/sick time that exceeds forty hours per calendar year on or after January 1, 2021.
e. Employees who are exempt from the overtime requirements of New York state law or regulations, including the wage orders promulgated by the New York commissioner of labor pursuant to article 19 or 19-A of the labor law, shall be assumed to work forty hours in each work week for purposes of safe/sick time accrual unless their regular work week is less than forty hours, in which case safe/sick time accrues based upon that regular work week.
f. The provisions of this chapter do not apply to (i) work study programs under 42 U.S.C. section 2753, (ii) employees for the hours worked and compensated by or through qualified scholarships as defined in 26 U.S.C. section 117, (iii) independent contractors who do not meet the definition of employee under subdivision 2 of section 190 of the labor law, and (iv) hourly professional employees.
g. Employees shall determine how much accrued safe/sick time they need to use, provided that employers may set a reasonable minimum increment for the use of safe/sick time which shall not exceed four hours per day.
h. For employees of employers with ninety-nine or fewer employees, up to forty hours of unused safe/sick time as provided pursuant to this chapter shall be carried over to the following calendar year, and for employees of employers with one hundred or more employees, up to fifty-six hours of unused safe/sick time as provided pursuant to this chapter shall be carried over to the following calendar year; provided that no employer with ninety-nine or fewer employees shall be required to (i) allow the use of more than forty hours of safe/sick time in a calendar year or (ii) carry over unused paid safe/sick time if the employee is paid for any unused safe/sick time at the end of the calendar year in which such time is accrued and the employer provides the employee with an amount of paid safe/sick time that meets or exceeds the requirements of this chapter for such employee for the immediately subsequent calendar year on the first day of such year; and further provided that no employer with one hundred or more employees shall be required to (i) allow the use of more than fifty-six hours of safe/sick time in a calendar year or (ii) carry over unused paid safe/sick time if the employee is paid for any unused safe/sick time at the end of the calendar year in which such time is accrued and the employer provides the employee with an amount of paid safe/sick time that meets or exceeds the requirements of this chapter for such employee for the immediately subsequent calendar year on the first day of such year.
i. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as requiring financial or other reimbursement to an employee from an employer upon the employee's termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation from employment for accrued safe/sick time that has not been used.
j. If an employee is transferred to a separate division, entity or location in the city of New York, but remains employed by the same employer, such employee is entitled to all safe/sick time accrued at the prior division, entity or location and is entitled to retain or use all safe/sick time as provided pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. When there is a separation from employment and the employee is rehired within six months of separation by the same employer, previously accrued safe/sick time that was not used shall be reinstated and such employee shall be entitled to use such accrued safe/sick time at any time after such employee is rehired, provided that no employer shall be required to reinstate such safe/sick time to the extent the employee was paid for unused accrued safe/sick time prior to separation and the employee agreed to accept such pay for such unused safe/sick time.
(Am. L.L. 2017/199, 11/6/2017, eff. 5/5/2018; Am. L.L. 2020/097, 9/28/2020, eff. 9/30/2020)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 2013/046 and L.L. 2014/007.