NYC Paid Sick Law Amended to Grant 4 Hours of PTO to Parents for their Child’s Vaccination

The New York City Council passed a bill amending its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act to require all private-sector employers to provide employees with 4 hours of paid COVID-19 child vaccination leave for each of their children, per vaccine injection. The law took effect on December 24, but it applies retroactively to November 2, 2021, which is the date the CDC authorized the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11. Here are the key points from this law (the “NYC Child Vaccination Leave”):

  1. Leave must be granted for parents who (a) accompany their children to COVID-19 vaccine injections and/or (b) care for such a child who is experiencing temporary side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine injection.
  2. The child must be under the age of 18 or the child must otherwise be incapable of self-care by reason of mental or physical disability.
  3. A parent is entitled to four hours of paid leave per injection, per child. The NYC Child Vaccination Leave does not reduce the parent’s own paid vaccination leave rights.
  4. An employer cannot require the employee to work additional hours to make up for the original hours the employee was unavailable, or find a replacement employee to cover their missed working hours, because the employee used paid COVID-19 child vaccination time.
  5. Employees may be required to provide “reasonable notice” of the need for leave, not to exceed 7 days, of the foreseeable need to take time off under this law.
  6. An employer may require that the parent provide proof of the child’s receipt of the vaccine injection within 7 days.
  7. The NYC Child Vaccination Leave rights cannot be waived by a union for employees covered by the union’s and employer’s CBA.
  8. The NYC Child Vaccination Leave expires on December 31, 2022.

If you have any questions about how to comply with these requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us.