§ 20-913 Right to safe/sick time; accrual.
AC § 20-913
a. All employees have the right to safe/sick time pursuant to this chapter.
1.All employers that employ 5 or more employees, all employers of 1 or more domestic workers, and any employer of 4 or fewer employees that had a net income of 1 million dollars or more during the previous tax year, shall provide paid safe/sick time to their employees in accordance with subdivision b of this section. 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 paragraph 1 of this subdivision shall be entitled to unpaid safe/sick time in accordance with subdivision b of this section. b. All employers shall provide a minimum of 1 hour of safe/sick time for every 30 hours worked by an employee, provided that employers with 99 or fewer employees shall not be required under this chapter to provide more than a total of 40 hours of accrued safe/sick time for an employee in a calendar year and further provided that employers with 100 or more employees shall not be required under this chapter to provide more than a total of 56 hours of accrued 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 subdivision b 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 subdivision b of this section 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 such safe/sick time as it is accrued, except that employees of any employer of 4 or fewer employees that had a net income of 1 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 100 or more employees may use any accrued amount of paid safe/sick time that exceeds 40 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 40 hours in each work week for purposes of safe/sick time accrual unless their regular work week is less than 40 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 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 4 hours per day for the use of safe/sick time provided pursuant to subdivisions b or k of section 20-913 or one hour per day for the use of paid prenatal leave. h. For employees of employers with 99 or fewer employees, up to 40 hours of unused accrued safe/sick time as provided pursuant to subdivision b of this section shall be carried over to the following calendar year, and for employees of employers with 100 or more employees, up to 56 hours of unused accrued safe/sick time as provided pursuant to subdivision b of this section shall be carried over to the following calendar year; provided that no employer with 99 or fewer employees shall be required to (i) allow the use of more than 40 accrued 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 100 or more employees shall be required to (i) allow the use of more than 56 accrued 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 safe/sick time that has not been used. j. If an employee is transferred to a separate division, entity or location in the city, 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 6 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. k. In addition to the safe/sick time required to be provided pursuant to subdivision b of this section, an employer shall provide an employee upon hire and on the first day of each calendar year with a minimum of 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick time that is immediately available for use. An employer shall not be required to carry over to the following calendar year any unused unpaid safe/sick time provided pursuant to this subdivision. If an employee communicates to the employer that the employee needs time off for a purpose described in section 20-914 of this chapter, an employer must provide safe/sick time provided pursuant to subdivision b of this section unless such safe/sick time pursuant to subdivision b is unavailable or the employee specifically requests to use other leave in lieu of safe/sick time pursuant to subdivision b. l. In addition to the safe/sick time required to be provided pursuant to subdivisions b and k of this section, an employer shall provide employees 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during any 52-week calendar period in accordance with the rules of the department. (Am. L.L. 2017/199, 11/6/2017, eff. 5/5/2018; Am. L.L. 2020/097, 9/28/2020, eff. 9/30/2020; Am. L.L. 2025/145, 10/25/2025, eff. 2/22/2026) Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 2013/046 and L.L. 2014/007.
