Paid Leave for New York Employees to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine: Takeaways for Employees and Next Steps for Employers
On March 12, 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that provides paid leave for employees in New York to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The New Law
The new law, which amends the New York Labor Law (NYLL) by adding section 196-C, includes the following eight (8) provisions:
Paid leave for employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Up to four (4) hours of leave per vaccine injection.
Employees must be paid at their regular rate of pay.
Employers cannot charge vaccine-related leave against any other type of leave, such as sick, vacation, or personal time off.
Employers are permitted but not required to provide more than four (4) hours of vaccine-related leave per injection, such as through workplace policies or under a collective bargaining agreement.
Under a collective bargaining agreement that expressly gives up employee rights under NYLL § 196-C, a unionized employer and the union may agree that (union) employees will not be granted the additional vaccine-related leave provided under the new law.
The new law prohibits retaliation and discrimination, including protections for employees who use or request vaccine-related leave.
The new law is effective immediately and expires on December 31, 2022.
Basic Takeaways for Employees and Employers
The new law makes clear that New York employers will play a vital role in the vaccination of employees in New York. Meanwhile, employees have the incentive and protection of paid leave to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Next Steps for Employers: Update Leave Tracking Systems and Put Written Policies in Place
Employers will need to update their leave tracking systems to account for this new vaccine-related leave. In addition, Employers will need to put in place written policies that cover vaccine-related leave, for two (2) basic reasons.
First, written policies increase workplace efficiency by uniformly explaining employee rights and obligations instead of relying on ad hoc, individual communications.
Second, written policies drafted in advance and applied uniformly help protect employers from claims of retaliation and discrimination. Since those types of claims often rely heavily on evidence that the complaining employee was treated differently than other employees for a prohibited reason, employers who can trace their actions back to a written policy have an advantage compared to employers who have no such written policy in place.
Questions
Shehan Legal closely monitors legal developments affecting employees and employers, in New York and Virginia, and federal government employees worldwide. For more information visit www.shehanlegal.com or to speak with attorney Kevin Shehan, please call 917-740-7805, email kevin@shehanlegal.com, or send a message using Shehan Legal’s Contact page (linked here).
EXTERNAL RESOURCES:
| SMALL AND MEDIUM EMPLOYERS | The full text of the new law is available at the New York State Senate website (click here).
| EMPLOYEES | A press release announcing the new law is available from the Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo (click here).
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