Today, March 12, Governor Cuomo signed legislation (see announcement HERE) granting public and private employees time off to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Under this new law, employees will be granted up to four hours of excused leave per injection that will not be charged against any other leave the employee has earned or accrued. This legislation becomes effective immediately.
The law has an expansive definition of “employee” and, therefore, covers employees regardless of their tenure or length of employment with the employer. The law does not state so, but it is likely that the paid leave obligation will only apply to employees for the days/times that such employees were scheduled to work. Thus, to the extent an employee receives their vaccination on a day or during the time that they are not working, there will probably be no requirement to pay the time, but this remains to be seen. It is also unclear what type of documentation and advance notice may be required of employees. The law prohibits retaliation or discrimination against employees who seek leave under the law.
We will provide more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, employers should prepare for another wave of time off requests and an unfunded mandate.