Westchester County Employees Now Entitled to Paid Sick Leave

What does this mean for Westchester Business Owners?

Effective April 10th, 2019, under the newly adopted Westchester County, New York Earned Sick Leave Law (WCESLL), employers with five or more employees will be required to provide employees up to 40 hours of paid sick time in a year.  Employees of an employer with fewer than five employees will be entitled to 40 hours of unpaid sick time in a year.  Domestic workers are provided additional rights under the law.

For both paid and unpaid sick time, employees will accrue 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked.  Sick time that is earned but unused can be carried over to the following year.  The employer, though, is only required to provide 40 hours of sick time per year and is not required to pay out any sick time when employment terminates.

Earned sick time may be used by employees under the following conditions:

1. For their own mental or physical illness
2. An injury or health condition
3. Need for medical diagnosis, care or treatment of same or for preventative medical care
4. Care of a family member for the same conditions as above or
5. Certain situations where the public health authorities deem the employee or their family member’s presence in the community may jeopardize the health of others or have closed the employer’s place of business.

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Please do not hesitate to contact Ed Petruska with any questions regarding the WCESLL.