Under NYC’s Protected Time Off (PTO) Law, covered employees have the right to protected time off and paid prenatal leave.
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has amended rules related to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”) to add further authorized reasons that employees may take safe/sick time:
- to provide care for a child or care recipient;
- to attend a legal proceeding or take other actions related to subsistence benefits or housing;
- to respond to a public disaster; and
- to respond to workplace violence.
It also amended ESSTA by requiring employers to provide an additional 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick time on the first day of work for each employee and on the first day of each calendar year.
In addition, the paid prenatal leave requirement set forth in section 196-b of the New York Labor Law was codified in the Administrative Code and the amounts of employee relief and civil penalties imposed for violations of an employer’s obligation to provide paid prenatal leave were added to the Administrative Code.
