New York: Paid Sick Leave Requirements
The short answer
New York requires nearly all private employers to provide job-protected sick leave, with the amount set by employer size: 100 or more employees means up to 56 hours of paid sick leave a year, 5 to 99 means up to 40 paid hours, and 4 or fewer means up to 40 hours — paid only if the employer's net income topped $1 million, otherwise unpaid. Sick leave accrues at one hour per 30 hours worked (or may be frontloaded), carries over year to year, and covers the employee's or a family member's health needs and domestic-violence 'safe' needs. Separately, since January 1, 2025 every private employer must also provide 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave per employee-specific 52-week period.
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This is the general rule in New York. Ezel applies current New York law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law and local interaction | New York State Sick Leave, Labor Law § 196-b, plus separate 20-hour paid prenatal personal leave under § 196-b(4-a), effective Jan. 1, 2025. Section 196-b(12) lets New York City enforce equal-or-stronger local law and preserves municipal sick-leave programs already in effect when the state law began; official DOL guidance confirms NYC and Westchester benefits continue. Insurance-based Paid Family Leave is separate |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee coverage | All private-sector employees are covered regardless of industry, occupation, part-time status, or overtime-exempt status. Duty scales by employer size, counted per calendar year: 4 or fewer employees — 40 hours unpaid, but 40 hours paid if the employer's net income exceeded $1 million in the previous tax year; 5 to 99 employees — 40 hours paid; 100 or more — 56 hours paid (§ 196-b(1)). Paid prenatal personal leave applies to every private-sector employer regardless of size (§ 196-b(4-a)). |
| Accrual and annual entitlement | Sick leave accrues at ≥1 hour per 30 hours worked from employment start, with no separate service wait; use is available as accrued. Annual floor is 40 or 56 hours by size. Paid prenatal leave is a separate automatic 20 hours per employee-specific 52-week period beginning with first use, with no accrual or minimum service (§ 196-b(3), (4-a); DOL guidance) |
| Frontloading, caps, and carryover | Employer may frontload the full annual sick amount but may not reduce/revoke it based on actual hours. Unused sick leave carries over; annual USE may remain capped at 40 hours (<100 employees) or 56 hours (100+). No separate statutory bank cap. A PTO substitute must meet amount, accrual, carryover, and use rules. Prenatal leave is a separate 20-hour/52-week benefit, not an accrued sick bank (§ 196-b(2), (6), (8)) |
| Qualifying uses and family | Sick uses (oral or written request): the employee's or a family member's mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, whether or not diagnosed, and diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventive care (§ 196-b(4)(a)(i)-(ii)). Safe uses: absences related to the employee's or a family member's status as a victim of domestic violence, a family offense, sexual offense, stalking, or human trafficking — shelter services, safety planning or relocation, legal help, contacting police or a district attorney, enrolling children in a new school, and other safety actions; an offender is not eligible (§ 196-b(4)(a)(iii)). 'Family member' means the employee's child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild, or grandparent, and the child or parent of the employee's spouse or domestic partner (§ 196-b(4)(b)). Paid prenatal leave covers only the pregnant employee's own prenatal care (§ 196-b(4-a)). |
| Requests, notice, documentation, and increments | Sick request may be oral/written; state law specifies no advance-notice period, and DOL says no replacement worker may be required. Employer may not demand confidential health/safety information. Sick minimum increment ≤4 hours. Prenatal leave uses ordinary request procedures, requires no medical records or confidential details, and is taken in 1-hour increments (§ 196-b(4)-(5); DOL guidance) |
| Pay, payout, reinstatement, and records | Paid sick/prenatal leave: regular rate or applicable minimum wage, greater; no statutory separation payout. Return to same position/pay/terms. On request, give current/prior-year sick accrual/use summary within 3 business days. Keep contemporaneous payroll records, including sick leave provided, ≥6 years (§§ 196-b(4-a), (5)-(6), (10)-(11); 195(4)) |
| Posting, retaliation, enforcement, and remedies | Notify employees in writing or publicly post employer sick-leave policy (§ 195(5)). No discharge, threat, penalty, points, discrimination, or retaliation for § 196-b rights, complaints, cooperation, or legally protected absence (§§ 196-b(7), 215). DOL complaint; denial may yield full underpayment, 100% liquidated damages and civil penalties up to 2× due. Retaliation: $1,000-$10,000 civil penalty ($20,000 repeat), reinstatement/backpay, ≤$20,000 liquidated damages, 2-year private action with fees/costs, and class B misdemeanor (§ 215) |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Match the amount to your employer's size
New York scales the duty by how many employees the business had in the calendar
year:
- 100 or more employees: up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per year.
- 5 to 99 employees: up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.
- 4 or fewer employees: up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave — unless the
employer's net income exceeded $1 million in the previous tax year, in
which case those 40 hours must be paid.
So the smallest employers split on a money test: a four-person shop that netted
under $1 million owes unpaid leave; the same-size shop that netted more owes paid
leave. Every private-sector employee is covered regardless of industry,
part-time status, or overtime-exempt status (§ 196-b(1)).
Accrue one hour per 30, or take a lawful frontload
Sick leave accrues at not less than one hour for every 30 hours worked, starting
at the commencement of employment (§ 196-b(3)). The statute sets no separate
probationary waiting period, so leave is usable as it accrues. An employer may
instead frontload the full annual amount at the start of the year — but if it
does, it may not later reduce or revoke that leave based on the hours the
employee actually worked (§ 196-b(2)).
Unused sick leave carries over to the next calendar year. Carrying it over
does not raise the ceiling on use, though: an employer may still cap annual use
at 40 hours (under 100 employees) or 56 hours (100 or more) (§ 196-b(6)).
Sick and safe leave cover different situations
Sick leave covers the employee's or a family member's mental or physical
illness, injury, or health condition — diagnosed or not — and diagnosis, care,
treatment, or preventive care (§ 196-b(4)(a)(i)-(ii)). It is also safe leave:
where the employee or a family member is a victim of domestic violence, a family
offense, a sexual offense, stalking, or human trafficking, leave covers shelter
services, safety planning or relocation, legal help, contacting police or a
district attorney, enrolling children in a new school, and other safety actions.
Someone who committed the offense is not eligible (§ 196-b(4)(a)(iii)).
"Family member" is broad: the employee's child, spouse, domestic partner,
parent, sibling, grandchild, or grandparent, and the child or parent of the
employee's spouse or domestic partner (§ 196-b(4)(b)).
Paid prenatal leave is a separate 20-hour benefit
Since January 1, 2025, every private employer — regardless of size — must also
provide 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave during any 52-week period
(§ 196-b(4-a)). It covers the pregnant employee's own prenatal care: exams,
procedures, monitoring, testing, and provider discussions related to the
pregnancy. It is available immediately with no accrual, is taken in hourly
increments, and is paid at the employee's regular rate or the applicable minimum
wage, whichever is greater. It is in addition to sick leave, and the
employee-specific 52-week period begins with the first use. Unused prenatal
leave is not paid out at separation.
Pay, records, and getting your position back
Paid sick leave and paid prenatal leave are paid at the regular rate or the
applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater (§ 196-b(5)(b), (4-a)). Neither
must be paid out for unused hours at separation (§ 196-b(6), (4-a)). After leave,
the employer must restore the employee to the same position with the same pay and
terms (§ 196-b(10)). And on the employee's request, the employer must provide a
summary of sick leave accrued and used, for the current or any prior year, within
three business days (§ 196-b(11)).
Labor Law § 195(4) separately requires contemporaneous payroll records showing
the amount of sick leave provided to each employee and preservation for at least
six years. Section 195(5) requires written notice or public posting of the
employer's sick-leave policy.
What trips people up
A local law can require more. New York's law is a floor. Section 196-b(12)
lets New York City enact and enforce its own rules that meet or exceed the state
minimums, and it preserves municipal sick-leave programs already in effect when
the state law took effect. NYC's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act and Westchester's
local law add their own requirements — check the local rule where you work.
Prenatal leave sits on top of sick leave. The 20 hours of paid prenatal
leave are separate. An employer cannot make you use sick leave (or exhaust it)
before using prenatal leave, and cannot make you choose one over the other.
Carryover does not raise the annual use cap. Hours roll over, but the employer
may still limit how many you use in a year to 40 or 56 depending on its size.
No confidential health details as a price of leave. An employer may not
require you to disclose confidential information about your illness or a
domestic-violence situation as a condition of sick or prenatal leave. (Some local
laws, such as NYC's, set their own documentation rules for longer absences.)
Common questions
Can my employer make me use sick leave before paid prenatal leave?
No. Paid prenatal leave is a separate, stand-alone benefit. Your employer cannot
require you to use or exhaust another leave type first, or force you to pick one
over the other.
Do I get paid for unused sick leave when I leave the job?
No. New York does not require payout of unused sick leave — or unused prenatal
leave — at termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation.
I work for a three-person business. Is my sick leave paid?
Only if the business's net income was more than $1 million in the previous tax
year. Otherwise employers with four or fewer employees owe up to 40 hours of
unpaid sick leave.
Can my employer demand a doctor's note to use sick leave?
For paid prenatal leave, DOL says no medical records or documents may be
required. For ordinary state sick leave, § 196-b bars requiring confidential
health information as a condition of leave. A local law may supply additional
documentation rules, so check the local rule where the employee works.
What can happen if protected sick leave is denied or punished?
DOL accepts complaints. Its official FAQ says denial may lead to the full wage
underpayment, 100% liquidated damages, and civil penalties up to twice the amount
due. Separately, § 215 supplies retaliation penalties, reinstatement and backpay,
liquidated damages, a two-year private action with fees and costs, and a class B
misdemeanor.
Statutes and sources
- N.Y. Labor Law § 196-b. New York State Sick Leave — employer-size tiers,
accrual, frontloading, carryover and use caps, sick and safe uses, family-member
definition, documentation limit, pay, reinstatement, balance summaries,
retaliation, and the local-law savings clause. NY State Senate
OpenLegislation (accessed
July 22, 2026). - N.Y. Labor Law § 196-b(4-a). Paid prenatal personal leave — 20 hours per
52-week period for every private employer, effective January 1, 2025. NY State
Senate OpenLegislation
(accessed July 22, 2026). - N.Y. Labor Law § 195(4)-(5). Six-year sick-leave payroll records and
written notice or public posting of the employer's leave policy. NY State
Senate OpenLegislation
(accessed July 22, 2026). - N.Y. Labor Law § 215. Complaint, protected-absence, retaliation, agency,
private-action, damages, fees, and criminal-remedy provisions. NY State
Senate OpenLegislation
(accessed July 22, 2026). - New York Paid Sick Leave program. Official state summary of the size-tier
amounts, accrual, coverage, and permitted sick/safe uses.
View official text (ny.gov) (accessed July
22, 2026). - New York State Department of Labor FAQs. Current agency guidance on
requests, notice, replacement workers, enforcement, and the separate prenatal
bank. Paid sick leave
and paid prenatal leave
(accessed July 22, 2026).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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