Update on Paid Sick Leave and Time Off to Vote

The Business Council of New York State shared updates on Paid Sick Leave and Time Off to Vote:
 
NYS Paid Sick Leave Mandate – New York’s paid sick leave mandate, adopted earlier this year, requires sick time to start accruing effective 9/30/20 with benefits available 1/1/21.  Last night, the NYS Labor Department released long-awaited guidance and a FAQ regarding the new paid sick leave law that applies to all private sector businesses in the state.  You can find the guidance here and FAQ’s here.  As discussed below, we will be holding a special webinar tomorrow, Wednesday October 21, to review these guidelines and discuss employer compliance strategies, which we are making free to all our Chambers of Commerce’s members, so please feel free to share this update with your membership.

In addition to the guidance and FAQ’s, the Department will be publishing proposed regulations regarding certain aspects of the new law, including: determining employer size when deciding how much paid sick leave is to be provided; determining employer ‘net income’ when deciding whether leave should be paid or not (for employers of 4 or less); and what kind of documentation can be requested of an employee using paid sick leave.  It will take several months for these rules to move through the SAPA process, and to fully resolve these compliance issues.  
 
In discussions with the Department and the Governor’s office in advance of this guidance, we have learned important information that can help employers develop their paid sick leave/paid time off policies for 2021.  To do this we will be having a special webinar tomorrow, Wednesday, October 21, 2020 beginning at 11:00 a.m.  Webinar information and a registration link is available here.
 
Time Off to Vote – We also wanted to provide a reminder regarding the state’s “time off to vote” law, as it was subject to multiple amendments over the past several sessions, including reforms advocated for by The Business Council that were approved in this year’s state budget.   New York State election law (§ 3-110) imposes several requirements on employers.   All employers, regardless of size, must allow an employee up to two hours, with pay, to vote if such employee is a registered voter and “does not  have sufficient time outside of his or her scheduled working hours, within which to vote on any day at which he or she may vote.”  The law provides that if an employee has four consecutive hours either between the opening of the polls and the beginning of their work shift or between the end of  their work shift and the closing of the polls, they are deemed to have sufficient time to vote and are not eligible for paid time off.  An employee who requires time off to vote is required to notify their employer at least two days prior to election day.  An employer may designate that time off must be taken either at the beginning or end of an employee’s work shift, unless otherwise mutually agreed.  Given that the state now has ten-day advanced voting, it is unlikely that many employees will still qualify for additional paid time off to vote.  Finally, not less than 10 days before election day, all employers are required to conspicuously post a notice regarding these time off provisions.  (Note – many employers already satisfy this requirement as part of their general labor law postings.) The state Board of Elections has a summary of the law and a sample poster available here,  and a FAQ document available here.