Reminder, NYS Paid Leave for COVID Law has not Expired

Our office has learned of several instances where providers were erroneously told that the
New York State COVID-19 paid leave has expired and, as a consequence, their employees have not been paid the unique COVID sick pay.

To be clear, the federal FFCRA regulations, which had required businesses with less than 500 employees to provide paid COVID sick leave, expired at the end of September 2021. The FFCRA allowed businesses that provided paid COVID sick leave to receive a payroll tax credit, with certain limits, for
provision of such time off. However, the New York State paid COVID leave – which has been in effect since March 2020 – has not expired.

Thus, New York employees who have an order to isolate or quarantine are eligible for pay for their leave. Large New York employers (defined to include companies with more than 100 employees) must provide such paid leave without accessing the employee’s regular PTO or sick time accruals. And, now, due to the FFCRA’s expiration, there is no payroll tax credit to offset the employer’s payment and provision of such paid COVID sick leave to its employees.

Separately, as a reminder, employees who need to take time off to care for a minor dependent child with COVID or that is in quarantine, or for another qualifying family member, may be eligible for NY Paid Family Leave benefits.