Good News for 08/27/20 - New York State now mandates that employers offer sick leave as of January 1, 2021

From Rochester Business Journal on 08/25/20

Starting January 1, 2021, nearly all employers in New York must offer paid sick leave to their employees under recently enacted New York Labor Law § 196-b. Even the smallest employers must offer at least unpaid leave. Sick leave under the law is job-protected and begins to accrue on September 30, 2020, three months before it can be used. Many employers will need to revisit and expand their sick leave or PTO programs to comply with the new law.

Leave amount, accrual and carryover

Employers must allow employees to accrue paid sick leave during a calendar year at a rate of at least one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked, based on the number of employees:

• 1–4 employees: Up to 40 hours of unpaid leave, unless the employer had net income of more than $1 million in the prior tax year, then leave must be paid.
• 5–99 employees: Up to 40 hours of paid leave.
• 100+ employees: Up to 56 hours of paid leave.

Employers may award leave as it is accrued, or they may frontload leave at the beginning of each calendar year by awarding the total amount of sick leave that would accrue during the year.

For more click here.

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