
MAY 7, 2024
Key Updates In Employment Laws For Businesses In New York State For 2024
Employers will be required to provide employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave each year
- Prenatal leave for pregnant employees: Employers will soon be required to provide employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave each year. This leave can be taken during pregnancy or for related medical appointments, procedures, tests, and discussions with healthcare providers. This leave is separate from the existing 40 or 56 hours of paid sick leave (depending on employer size) mandated by state law and can be used in hourly increments. Employees must receive their regular rate of pay when using this leave. Governor Hochul proposed this paid prenatal leave benefit as part of a broader series of initiatives to address maternal and infant mortality rates in New York. The leave – which is being lauded as the first of its kind in the nation – takes effect on January 1, 2025.
Employers must provide paid 30-minute breaks to nursing mothers who are breast-feeding.
- Paid nursing leave: Soon nursing mothers will have the right to paid break time to express breast milk during the workday. Currently, New York law grants employees reasonable unpaid break time for this purpose, at least every three hours or as otherwise reasonably requested by the employee. However, starting June 19, 2024, employers must provide paid 30-minute breaks for this purpose. Additionally, employees can utilize existing paid break time or mealtime for any period exceeding 30 minutes.
Employers are required to provide paid time off for employees who are under a mandatory quarantine or isolation order due to COVID-19
- Sunsetting of COVID-19 Sick Leave: The budget includes a measure to repeal the state’s COVID-19 related sick leave requirements. Employers are required to provide paid time off for employees who are under a mandatory quarantine or isolation order due to COVID-19. This leave obligation will end on July 31, 2025, extending a year beyond the initial proposal to sunset the law this July.
New York Extends Statute of Limitations to File Employment Discrimination Claims with the Division of Human Rights
- New York Extends Statute of Limitations to File Employment Discrimination Claims with the Division of Human Rights
- Gov. Hochul signed S3255/A501. In 2019, the legislature amended the law to increase the statute of limitations to file a claim with the New York State Division of Human Rights from one to three years for unlawful discriminatory practices that constitute sexual harassment in employment.
- The law amends New York Executive Law Section 297 to extend the statute of limitations for filing complaints about any alleged unlawful discriminatory practices to the New York State Division of Human Rights from one year to three years, consistent with the current statute of limitations for administration complaints alleging sexual harassment in employment. The new statute of limitations will take effect in February 2024 and apply to claims arising on, or after, the effective date.
My office is available to assist your business in implementing the new laws in effect. Please make sure to subscribe to this blog to receive email alerts about new laws which may impact your business.