New York State New Sick Leave Law Effective September 30, 2020

As of September 30th 2020, all New York State employers are required to provide sick leave to their employees under New York State Sick Leave (NYSSL) law. The number of employees entitled to use NYSSL varies depending on organization size and income.

To determine an employer's size under the NYSSL, a calendar year is defined as the 12 month period from January 1st to December 31st. For purposes of using and accruing paid or unpaid leave under the law, a calendar year means the following:

1. The 12-month period from January 1st to December 31st, or
2. A regular and consecutive 12-month period, as determined by the employer

The amount of NYSSL employees are entitled to use and be paid for varies by employer size and income as follows;

For Employers with Less Than 5 Employees: 

* Employers with fewer than 5 employees and a net income of less than $1 million in the previous tax year must provide 40 hours of unpaid sick leave.

• Employees are not entitled to use NYSSL until January 1st, 2021.
• NYSSL will accrue at a rate of 1 hour of every 30 hours worked, unless the employer chooses to provide employees with their total sick time at the beginning of the year.
• Employers may set a reasonable minimum increment of use, which cannot exceed 4 hours. 
• Unused sick leave must be carried over to the following year.

NYSSL may be used for the following:

• Employee's mental or physical illness, or injury, or diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventive care for employee's mental or physical illness or injury;
• Covered family member's mental or physical illness or injury or diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventive care for a covered family member's mental or physical illness or injury;
  
• Absences related to employee's status as a victim of domestic violence, family offense, sexual offense, stalking, or human trafficking; or
• Absences related to a covered family member's status as a victim of domestic violence, family offense, sexual offense, stalking or human trafficking.

For additional information on the NYSSL law, please reach out to the Excelerator® team via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If the NYSSL changes, effective September 30th 2020, conflict with you current employee handbook sick leave policy, it's time to update your policy. To schedule a complimentary handbook review, Schedule A Meeting with an Excelerator Associate