If you work for a private employer anywhere in New York, state law gives you job-protected sick leave starting your first day on the job. NY state paid sick leave, set out in Labor Law Section 196-b, provides up to 40 or 56 hours per year depending on how many people your employer has on the payroll, and as of January 1, 2025 a separate 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave is available on top of that.1New York State. New York Paid Sick Leave
Coverage is broad. Part-time, seasonal, per diem, and overtime-exempt workers all qualify, and immigration status does not matter. Federal employees are the main exception, because federal employment rules govern them separately.
How Much Leave You Get
The amount tracks your employer’s size during the calendar year:
- 1 to 4 employees, net income of $1 million or less in the prior tax year: up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave.
- 1 to 4 employees, net income above $1 million: up to 40 hours of paid sick leave.
- 5 to 99 employees: up to 40 hours of paid sick leave.
- 100 or more employees: up to 56 hours of paid sick leave.2New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 196-B – Sick Leave Requirements
So if you work for a four-person company that cleared $1.2 million last year, your 40 hours are paid. At the same size company earning $800,000, you still get 40 hours of job-protected time off, but your employer is not required to pay you for them.3The State of New York. New York Paid Sick Leave
How You Earn It
You accrue at least one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, from day one. There is no waiting period. Variable or irregular schedules follow the same math.2New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 196-B – Sick Leave Requirements
Your employer can skip accrual tracking and front-load the full annual amount at the start of the calendar year instead. If they do, they cannot later claw back hours based on how little you actually worked that year.
Unused leave carries over to the next calendar year. The carryover does not raise your ceiling on use, though: the employer can still cap actual use at 40 hours per year (under 100 employees) or 56 hours (100 or more). Carryover matters most under accrual, where it gives you a head start toward next year’s cap.
What You Can Use It For
The statute covers two uses: sick leave and safe leave.
Sick leave covers diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventive care for a mental or physical illness or injury, for you or a family member. Routine checkups, vaccinations, and screenings qualify.
Safe leave covers situations where you or a family member has been a victim of domestic violence, a family offense, a sexual offense, stalking, or human trafficking. You can use the hours to go to a shelter or crisis center, meet with an attorney or a district attorney’s office, file a police report, relocate, or enroll children in a new school.4New York State. New York State Paid Sick and Safe Leave
“Family member” is defined broadly. It covers your child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild, and grandparent, plus the child or parent of your spouse or domestic partner.
Prenatal Personal Leave
Separate from your sick leave balance, every employer must provide 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave in any 52-week period, effective January 1, 2025. This is additive. A pregnant employee at a 100-plus-person employer can access up to 56 hours of sick leave and 20 hours of prenatal leave in the same year.
Prenatal leave covers healthcare services received during pregnancy or related to it: physical exams, procedures, monitoring, testing, and consultations with a provider. It can be taken in hourly increments and is paid at your regular rate or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher.
What You Get Paid
Paid sick leave is paid at your regular rate of pay or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater. Your employer cannot invent a reduced “sick day” rate. For employees who earn different rates on different shifts or tasks, the regular rate standard still applies.
One thing the law does not require: a payout of unused sick leave when you quit, get laid off, or retire. Some employers offer that under their own policy or a union contract, but Section 196-b itself creates no right to cash out your balance when you leave.
Asking For Leave and Documentation
You can request leave verbally or in writing, depending on your employer’s internal policy. Check your handbook for the preferred method and any notice expectations, and follow that procedure to keep the leave clearly protected.
Documentation rules are tight. Your employer can require it only if you are out for more than three consecutive workdays, and even then a basic note from a healthcare provider is enough.1New York State. New York Paid Sick Leave The law specifically forbids employers from demanding a diagnosis or asking for details about a domestic violence situation. Pressure for that kind of information is itself a violation.
Checking Your Balance
You have a right to know how much leave you have. On request, your employer must give you a summary of the sick leave you have accrued and used, for the current or any previous calendar year, within three business days. The request can be oral or written. An employer who cannot produce the records may have a recordkeeping problem of their own.
If Your Employer Pushes Back
Firing, threatening, demoting, cutting hours, or any other adverse action against you for requesting or using sick leave or prenatal leave is prohibited. The protection applies whether or not you end up taking the leave. Discipline that lands shortly after a leave request is the kind of pattern the Department of Labor looks at.
If your employer denies leave, underpays you during leave, or retaliates, you can file a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor.3The State of New York. New York Paid Sick Leave If the agency finds a violation, it can order back wages, liquidated damages, and civil penalties.
Before you file, gather what you have: written leave requests, your employer’s responses, pay stubs showing your accrued balance, and pay records from any days you took off. You do not need a lawyer to file, though workers facing retaliation or complicated facts often benefit from counsel.
If You Work In New York City
New York City has its own Protected Time Off law (formerly the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act) that applies within the five boroughs and in some respects is broader than the state law. If you work in the city, you get whichever law gives you the greater benefit on any given point, so treat the city rules as your baseline and the state law as a floor. Prenatal personal leave applies statewide regardless.