News & Updates

New York State Sick Leave

Effective January 1, 2021, the law sets a minimum threshold for sick leave hours provided by employers. It also expands who is eligible for paid sick leave as well as the reasons an employee can use sick leave and requires that employers provide a summary of all used sick leave to employees upon request.

New sick leave requirement

Beginning January 1, 2021, employers with 100 or more employees are required to offer a minimum of 56 hours of paid sick leave each calendar year to all full-time employees and up to 56 hours to part-time and Time-as-Reported (TAR) employees, based on hours worked.

Expanded allowable reasons for using sick leave

Employees will now be able to use sick leave to take care of issues related to illness, injury, or medical care for their qualifying family, which includes spouses and domestic partners, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren. This time can also be used for issues related to domestic violence for themselves or qualifying family.

Policies and processes

Under the new law, the University is now required to provide to employees, upon request, a summary of the sick leave they have used and how much is available. All students will manage their sick time in HRMS. Please note that the intention of this reporting requirement is to ensure that employees have access to the amount of protected sick leave available to them so they can manage their balance and use the time as needed, consistent with the new regulation. It will in no way restrict or reduce the flexibility afforded by our current policy.

Please visit the Human Resources website for additional information and resources, including directions on how to record sick leave in HRMS. The University’s new Sick Leave Policy (Policy 337) and FAQs are also available.