New law guts many ‘no fault’ attendance policies

Many New York employers have policies that provide blended paid time off (PTO) days that combine vacation, personal leave, and sick leave, or that penalize employees who take excessive time off regardless of the reason. Some employers have policies that reward employees for not taking time off. On November 21, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill amending New York Labor Law (NYLL) section 215. Read on to understand how this new law affects your sick leave and other attendance policies.

Background

NYLL section 215 prohibits an employer from taking actions to “threaten, penalize, or in any other manner discriminate or retaliate against any employee” regarding contacting immigration officials about an employee’s immigration or citizenship status.

The amendment now adds a provision to prevent the employer from “assessing any demerit, occurrence, any other point, or deductions from an allotted bank of time, which subjects or could subject an employee to disciplinary action, which may include but not be limited to failure to receive a promotion or loss of pay.”

The amendment to NYLL section 215 also prohibits employers or their agents, “or the officer or agent of any corporation, partnership, or limited liability company, or any other person, [from] discharg[ing], threaten[ing], penaliz[ing], or in any other manner discriminat[ing] or retaliat[ing] against any employee because such employee has used any legally protected absence pursuant to federal, local, or state law.”