Legislative lowdown: NYC employees can take their safe and sick leave claims to court

New York City workers will soon have the right to take their employer to court over violations of the city’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), under a new law that was enacted on Jan. 20.

The ESSTA requires employers to offer a certain amount of paid or unpaid leave to their employees each calendar year. Businesses with five to 99 employees must provide up to 40 hours of paid leave each year, while those with 100 or more employees must give workers up to 56 hours of paid leave annually. Covered employees may use this leave if they need to care for themselves or a family member, or take measures to protect themselves in cases of incidents such as domestic violence or human trafficking. They don’t have to give their employer advance notice for taking leave if the need for leave arises unexpectedly.

Expanded opportunities for relief. Under the new law, which takes effect March 20, any person who believes their employer has violated the ESSTA can file a civil action in court within two years of the alleged violation. Plaintiffs may seek not only compensatory damages, but also other damages such as attorney’s fees and costs.

Prior to the passage of this law, employees could only file a complaint alleging ESSTA violations with the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), according to a blog post published by attorneys with law firm Ogletree Deakins. If the DCWP determined a violation occurred, they sent it to an administrative tribunal. Now, workers may file claims both with the DCWP and in court. The DCWP will be required to report the number of civil actions filed on its site, to the extent the department is aware of such claims.

Council Member Gale Brewer, one of the bill sponsors, spoke in support of the law at a Dec. 20 hearing, noting that “when workers lose their jobs, because they took protected sick time, equitable relief is much more readily available in court.” She added that a class-action lawsuit involving similar paid leave violations for many workers is “only an option in court.”

A number of states, including New York, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Colorado, already have a private right of action allowing workers to sue their employers for violating paid sick day statutes.