New York State Paid Sick Leave

On April 3, 2020, Governor Cuomo signed into legislation New York’s paid sick leave law that establishes the right to paid leave for all individuals who receive an IRS Form W-2 from a private sector entity in New York regardless of industry, occupation, part-time status, and overtime exempt status.

The law provides that:

  • Employers must provide one (1) hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum usage of 56 hours per calendar year.
  • Persons eligible for this benefit begin accruing leave on September 30, 2020 and are eligible to begin using the leave on January 1, 2021.

University Policy 6.9, Time Away From Work: Health and Personal Leave (HAP) currently provides these benefits to regular and benefits-eligible temporary staff. University Policy 6.2.1, Leave for Professors and Academic Staff currently provides these benefits for benefits-eligible Contract College academics. For those individuals who are not covered by the current HAP or Academic Leaves policies, a new sick leave policy has been issued.

The following groups will be covered by the new policy:

  • temporary (no benefits) and casual employees,
  • endowed academics,*
  • non benefits-eligible contract college academics,*
  • graduate students on assistantships, resident advisors, and
  • students holding hourly appointments 

*For a full list of academic titles, please refer to Approved Academic Titles.

 

Policy Updates

Adjustments to language have been made in the current Health and Personal Leave section of Policy 6.9 and to Policy 6.2.1, Leaves for Professors and Academic Staff to ensure compliance with the new paid sick leave requirements. Forthcoming language changes for compliance purposes will be made to Policy 1.3, Graduate Student Assistantships. 

Under the legislation and its provisions, paid sick leave can be used for:

  • Personal or family members’ mental or physical illness
  • Diagnosis, care, or treatment of personal or family members’ mental or physical illness,
  • Absences related to domestic violence, family offenses, sexual offenses, stalking, and human trafficking.

Full details of the policy are available within the Sick Leave section of University Policy 6.9, Time Away From Work.

 

FAQs and Workday Instructions

Employees:

Undergraduate students:

Graduate students:

 

Questions