Intro to New York Labor Laws

New York City recently passed a law that prohibits employers from imposing shorter length of time requirements to file complaints and lawsuits than those outlined by the NYC Human Rights Law (NYCHRL).  Employers should review all of their agreements and policies that might set limitations on bringing claims for their NYC employees, and speak to counsel on the need to update those company documents and procedures accordingly.

New York passed legislation that will require all employers to provide pregnant workers in New York with 20 hours of paid prenatal care leave for each calendar year, effective January 1, 2025. Employees will be entitled to use this leave for medical appointments, procedures, tests, and discussions with healthcare providers in hourly increments; this leave will be in addition to paid sick leave requirements. The state is expected to provide interpretative guidance prior to the effective date.

New York continues to expand the scope of rights for nursing parents, as it did last year, and will now require employers to provide paid break time for nursing parents. Effective June 19, 2024, this new law will allow nursing employees to take 30-minute paid lactation breaks as needed, in addition to their regular paid or unpaid meal or break time. This accommodation must be provided for up to three years following childbirth. 

Employers should review and revise their paid leave policies and break policies to include prenatal care leave and lactation breaks that reflect the new requirements.

Effective March 12, 2024, a new state law signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul will prevent employers asking their employees or job applicants for the usernames or passwords to their personal social media accounts. Employers are also restricted from having employees log into their personal accounts, and showing pictures or posts from these accounts. This new law aims to protect people's privacy on social media while at work. Of note, this law will not prevent employers from viewing or accessing information about an employee or job applicant that is publicly available without login information.

New York’s Paid Leave for COVID-19 requirements will end on July 31, 2025. Until that time, employers will continue to be required to provide time off for employees who are under a mandatory quarantine or isolation order due to COVID-19. Employer size will determine the length of the leave and whether it will be paid. This required COVID-19 leave is in addition to paid sick and safe leave requirements. Employers should maintain their existing policies and procedures through July 2025 to comply with the existing COVID-19 eligibility, benefits, and record-keeping requirements.

In February, we shared news about New York City (NYC) officials planning to release the Workers’ Bill of Rights by March 1. The Workers’ Bill of Rights has now been made available and mandates that NYC employers must give a copy to current employees by July 1, 2024 and to subsequent new hires thereafter. The Workers’ Bill of Rights lays out protections for NYC based employees, covering topics like minimum wage, sick leave, paid family leave, anti-discrimination policies, and the right to unionize, amongst others. Employers are required to post a notice of the Bill of Rights, along with a QR code linking to the website, by July 1, and to separately share it with current employees and all new hires. 

Impacted Justworks PEO customers who subscribe to our poster service will receive a new poster for their office locations and remote employees in NYC. Ahead of the July 1 deadline, Justworks will add the notice to the PEO employee onboarding flow for all new hires in NYC and to the Documents section for employees of our PEO customers who work in NYC. PEO customers should encourage existing employees to sign into their accounts and view this document.

New York City has enacted a law requiring employers to distribute a "Workers' Bill of Rights" to all employees by July 1, 2024. Employers that use a website or mobile application to regularly communicate will also be required to post the notice through those means.

The notice is expected to include information about rights under federal, state, and local law for employees, job applicants, and independent contractors, regardless of immigration status.  It is also expected to provide information about the right to form a union.

The Department of Consumer and Worker Production (DCWP), along with other city agencies and organizations, will finalize and post this Bill of Rights by March 1, 2024.