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Westchester County Requires Sick Leave For Employees

12/01/18

Author: ADP Admin/Thursday, December 6, 2018/Categories: New York

Overview: Westchester County in New York has enacted an ordinance that will require employers to provide sick leave to employees who work in the county.

Effective: April 10, 2019 

Coverage:
Covered Employers:

The law covers all employers with employees working in Westchester County. Employers with five or more employees must provide paid sick leave. Smaller employers must provide sick leave, but it may be unpaid. To determine if the five-employee threshold is met, employers must count all employees working on a full-time, part-time or temporary basis.

Note: All employers of domestic workers must provide paid sick leave, regardless of size.

Covered Employees:
To be covered by the law, an individual must be employed in Westchester County for more than 80 hours in a calendar year.

Details:
Accrual and Carryover:

Accrual:
In general, employees must be allowed to accrue at least one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers may cap accrual at 40 hours per year.
Employees begin accruing leave on their first day of employment or 90 days after the effective date of the law, whichever is later. Note: Domestic workers must accrue at least one hour of hour of sick leave for every seven days worked in addition to the day of rest provided under state law.

Carryover:
Unused sick leave can be carried over to the following year, if the maximum amount of sick time for any given year remains at 40 hours.

Use:
Employees are entitled to use up to 40 hours of accrued sick leave per year. Employers may make employees wait 90 days from their start date to use accrued sick leave.

Employees may use accrued sick leave for the following purposes:
  • The employee’s or their family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition.
  • The employee’s or a family member’s medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition.
  • The employee’s or a family member’s preventive medical care.
  • If public health authorities determine that the employee or family member’s presence in the community may jeopardize others’ health because of the individual’s exposure to a communicable disease.
  • Closure of the employee’s place of business by order of a public official due to a public health emergency.
  • Closure of a day care or school attended by an employee’s child where the closure was due to a public health emergency.
A family member is defined as:
  • An employee’s spouse, domestic partner, child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, sibling, or current or former spouse or domestic partner; or
  • A spouse’s, domestic partner’s, or household member’s child or parent.
Household member is defined as individuals who are:
  • Related by blood or affinity,
  • Legally married to or in a domestic partnership with one another;
  • Formerly married to or in a domestic partnership, regardless of whether they live together;
  • Have a child in common, regardless of whether they have lived together at any time; or
  • Have been in an intimate relationship, regardless of whether they have lived together at any time.
Pay During Leave:
During paid sick leave, employees must be compensated at the same hourly rate as they normally earn, but in no case may it be less than the state minimum wage.

Employee Notice:
Employees may request leave orally, in writing, electronically, or by any other means acceptable to the employer. Requests must include the expected duration of the absence when possible. When the need for leave is foreseeable, employees must make a good faith effort to provide notice in advance and make a reasonable effort to schedule the leave in a manner that doesn’t unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.

Employers that require notice of the need for leave must provide a written policy with procedures for providing such notice. If an employer fails to provide a copy of the policy to the employee, the employer is prohibited from denying leave for noncompliance with the notice requirement.

Documentation:
For sick leave of more than three consecutive work days, employers may require employees to provide reasonable documentation that the leave was used for a purpose covered by the law. Employers cannot require a doctor to provide a note containing personal health information.

Employer Notice:
At the start of employment or 90 days after the effective date of the law, whichever is later, employers must give employees a copy of the law and written notice of how the law applies to them. Employers must also display a copy of the law and a poster in the workplace in English, Spanish, and any other language deemed appropriate by the county.

Recordkeeping:
For a period of at least three years, employers must retain records documenting the hours worked by employees and the sick leave accrued and taken by employees.

Retaliation Prohibited:
Employers are prohibited from interfering with employee’s rights under the law or retaliating against employees for exercising those rights.

Action Required: Employers with employees in Westchester County should review their policies, forms, practices, and supervisor training to ensure compliance with the ordinance. The Sick Leave Toolkit also covers the new law and is available on FormSource in the Leave and Return to Work section or can be found in your Forms Library, as applicable.

As always please contact your Human Resources Business Partner if you have any questions.

This content provides practical information concerning the subject matter covered and is provided with the understanding that ADP is not rendering legal advice.

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Tags: Compliance CornerState Update12/01/18

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