New York City's Earned Sick Time Act is tentatively scheduled to take effect in April 2014. The Act will apply to employers with 20 or more employees, and eventually 15 or more employees. The Act generally will require that covered employers provide an employee with a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every thirty hours worked by the employee (provided the employee works more than eighty hours in a calendar year) up to a maximum of forty hours of paid sick time in a calendar year. Employers in New York City that already maintain paid leave policies will not be required to provide additional paid sick time, provided that the paid leave policies currently in effect permit leave to be used "for the same purposes and under the same conditions" as provided in the Act. The Act does not apply in certain limited circumstances, such as to employers classified in certain sections of the North American Industry Classification System or to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that expressly waives the provisions of the Act and provides a "comparable benefit." Nevertheless, even if an employer does not meet the threshold requirements for providing paid sick time under the Act, it may be required to provide unpaid sick time pursuant to the Act's accrual schedule.
In 2007, San Francisco became the first city to enact a paid sick leave law. Thus far in 2013, Portland, Oregon and New York City joined cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, and the District of Columbia, as well as the state of Connecticut, in enacting a paid leave law.
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