Paid Sick Leave

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Beginning on January 1, 2025, all New York employers will be required to provide eligible employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave (“Paid Prenatal Leave”) during any 52-week period for health care services during or related to their pregnancy. The law was initially passed in May 2024 by Governor Kathy Hochul, and amends New York Labor Law § 196-b, the state’s Paid Sick and Safe Leave law. On December 2, 2024, the New York Department of Labor (“NYDOL”) released a long-awaited series of FAQs (the “FAQs”) clarifying a number of outstanding questions regarding the law’s application. The law is the first of its kind in the United States, and provides paid, protected leave for pregnant employees separate and apart from other available leave options. Key highlights of the Paid Prenatal Leave law are summarized below.Continue Reading New York Paid Prenatal Leave Begins Next Year – What Employers Need to Know

Effective as of March 20, 2024, New York City law permits “any person” to initiate a private right of action for violations of the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”). The new law amends Section 20-924 of the New York City Administrative Code and allows employees to file a lawsuit alleging a violation of ESSTA within two years of the date the employee knew or should have known about the alleged violation.Continue Reading NYC Permits Private Right of Action for Earned Safe and Sick Time Violations

In 2022, the Maryland General Assembly passed the Time to Care Act of 2022 (the “Act”), setting up a paid family and medical leave program for Maryland employees. Through Family and Medical Leave Insurance (“FAMLI”), eligible Maryland employees may receive up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for the various reasons detailed below. FAMLI will be funded by both employer and employee contributions. Though eligible employees are not able to draw from the fund until January 1, 2026, required contributions are currently scheduled to begin on October 1, 2024. Therefore, Maryland employers should begin planning for implementation of the program and ensure that employees have advance notice of the upcoming deductions from their wages related to FAMLI.Continue Reading Maryland Paid Family Leave Employer Contributions Begin This Year – What Employers Need to Know and Expect

In the past few months, California Governor Newsom has signed numerous new employment laws affecting California employers of all sizes. Below is a summary of some of the laws going into effect in 2024.Continue Reading Looking Ahead: New California Employment Laws for 2024

On October 4, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 616 into law, which amends the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 by increasing the number of paid sick days (or hours) employees are entitled to each year. The law, which will take effect on January 1, 2024, will increase paid sick leave for employees from three days (or 24 hours) to five days (or 40 hours), whichever is greater, within a 12-month period. The law will specifically amend Labor Code sections 245.5, 246, and 246.5.Continue Reading California Employers Must Provide Additional Paid Sick Leave in 2024

Last year New York state and local legislatures implemented a number of employment laws and ordinances that are set to take effect in 2023. This update summarizes these new legal requirements to help New York employers prepare for 2023.Continue Reading New Year, New Rules for Employers Doing Business in New York in 2023

The Bill

The Expansion of California Family Rights Act, AB 1041, was signed into law by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2022. AB 1041 expands the class of people for whom an employee may take leave to care for under the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) to include a “designated person.” AB 1041 also expands the term “family member” under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act (“HWHFA”), which governs paid sick day leave, to include “designated person.”Continue Reading Who Is a “Designated Person”? Changes to California’s Medical Leave

In February 2022, California enacted Senate Bill (“SB”) 114, which created California Labor Code section 248.6 to provide COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“CSPSL”) to covered employees. CSPSL was due to expire on September 30, 2022. On September 29, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 152, which (1) extends CSPSL through December 31, 2022, (2) provides employers the ability to require an additional diagnostic test before employees use CSPSL in certain circumstances, and (3) creates a grant program to assist qualified small business and nonprofits with grants for costs incurred for CSPSL provided in 2022.Continue Reading California Immediately Expands COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Through 2022

San Francisco employers will soon be required to comply with an additional Ordinance providing San Francisco-based employees with paid leave during future public health emergencies. In the June 7, 2022 election, San Francisco voters passed Proposition G. It requires employers with 100 or more employees worldwide to provide up to 80 hours of paid public health emergency leave to San Francisco-based employees. The Ordinance will become operative on October 1, 2022. Continue Reading San Francisco Ordinance Requires Employers to Provide Paid Public Health Emergency Leave

We previously described the “framework” for an agreement to reinstate California’s Supplemental Paid Sick Leave.  Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 114 into law on February 9, 2022.  The specifics of the bill are summarized below.

Author’s Note: The prior version of this article noted SB 114 required employers to list the amount of CSPSL used by an employee during a given pay period.  SB 114 can be interpreted to require that wage statements list both available and used CSPSL.  The wage statement section has been updated to reflect best practices in light of the ambiguity in the law.Continue Reading California Reinstates COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave

On January 25, 2022, Governor Gavin Newson announced a “framework” for an agreement to reactivate California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“COVID PSL”) law for the period from January 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022.  California employers should assume this agreement will become law in some form and prepare accordingly to re-institute supplemental paid sick leave for their California employees in the near term.
Continue Reading California Likely to Soon Implement COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, Retroactive to January 1, 2022