New York City Looks to Expand its Paid Sick Leave Law Before it Takes Effect in April 2014
Written by Michael Arnold
Mayor Bill de Blasio and incoming Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito recently announced at a joint press conference that the New York City Council will look to expand the Earned Sick Time Act in the coming days. The Council enacted the paid leave law last year and it is currently scheduled to go into effect in April 2014.
According to the Mayor, the updated law would: (i) protect an additional 500,000 City employees, including those in the manufacturing sector, by expanding the paid leave requirement to employers with 5 or more employees starting in April 2014; (ii) expand the definition of family members so that employees could use sick leave to care for grandparents, grandchildren and siblings; and (iii) allow employees to use sick time as they accrue it rather than wait 120 days after they started working.
We expect that the Council will pass the amended law quickly and then move on to consideration of other employee-friendly laws. We will update this post as we learn more.