For employers with employees in the five boroughs of New York City, New York City has recently expanded its paid sick time law and renamed it the Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law. The law,
NOW IN EFFECT, provides several additional reasons for which this leave can be used by the employee or by the employee in connection with a family member:
- Obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, rape crisis center, or other services program.
- Participate in safety planning, relocate or take other actions to protect your safety or that of your family members, including enrolling children in a new school.
- Meet with an attorney or social service provider to obtain information and advice related to custody, visitation, matrimonial issues; orders of protection; immigration; housing; discrimination in employment, housing or consumer credit; and
- File a domestic incident report with law enforcement or meet with a district attorney's office.
At least as significant to this expansion, the law also expands the definition of "family member" from an employee's child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild or grandparent, the child or parent of an employee's spouse or domestic partner to also include: any other individual related by blood to the employee and any other individual whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.
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The revised Notice of Employee rights must be provided to new employees at the time of hire on a going forward basis and employers must remove the old Notice of Employee Rights from their onboarding materials and replace it with the new one. Of course, all employment handbooks or stand-alone sick leave policies must also be modified to comply with the expansion of the New York City law.
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