New York City private employers may soon wrestle with paid sick leave obligations

Positioning New York City to become the fourth municipality in the country to pass paid sick leave legislation, Council Member Gale A. Brewer (D-Manhattan) introduced legislation on August 20, 2009, mandating that New York city private employers provide paid sick leave to their employees. Thirty-five of the 51 City Council Members have agreed to cosponsor the bill. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also endorsed the concept of paid sick days.

Called the Earned Paid Sick Leave Law, the bill would require employers to provide paid sick leave annually to each employee at a rate of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employees who work a 40-hour workweek would earn up to nine paid sick days per year, while employees working for small businesses (employing ten or fewer employees) would earn up to five days per year. Employees are eligible for the benefit once they begin work, but the paid sick days cannot be used until the employee has worked at least 90 days.

An employer must permit an employee to use the paid sick leave for the following reasons:

• an employee's or the employee's child's, spouse's, parent's, grandparent's or domestic partner's mental or physical illness, diagnosis or preventive medical care;
• issues related to domestic violence; and
• in the event a public oficial closes a school or place of business due to a public health emergency.

According to the bill, reasonable notice of foreseeable leave may be required and documentation may also be required for leave of more than three days. In addition, the bill bans employers from taking retaliatory personnel actions or discriminating against an employees because they take the leave. Businesses would be fined $1,000 per violation.

The District of Columbia, San Francisco and Milwaukee are municipalities that have paid leave programs, but Milwaukee's paid sick leave ordinance was declared unconstitutional. An appeal has since been filed. Nationally, the Healthy Families Act (S. 1152/H.R. 2460) would establish a minimum standard of paid sick days for the nation, allowing workers to earn up to seven paid sick days a year. It is currently being considered by both the House and Senate.