A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to providing paid time to employees who accompany a child to receive a COVID-19 vaccination injection or care for a child with COVID-19 vaccine side effects

Summary

This bill would amend the City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act. Under the bill, an employee who is a parent or legal guardian of a child would be entitled to four hours of COVID-19 child vaccination time per vaccine injection for each child. The parent would be permitted to be absent to accompany their child to receive the vaccine, or care for the child due to side effects from the vaccine. COVID-19 child vaccination time would be paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay and would be in addition to the employee’s accrual or use of existing safe/sick time. It would be required to be paid by the next regular pay date. An employer could require that within seven days an employee provide documentation that their child was vaccinated. An employer could not require the employee to work additional hours to make up for the original hours the employee was unavailable, or find a replacement employee to cover the their hours, because the employee used COVID-19 child vaccination time. The bill’s requirements could not be waived, notwithstanding certain collective bargaining agreements. The bill would provide for relief and penalties for a failure to provide COVID-19 child vaccination time. It contains a 60-day phase-in period during which the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection would give written notice and a cure period before enforcing against employers who do not provide the new COVID-19 vaccination leave. The bill would expire and be deemed repealed on December 31, 2022.

Official summary of legislation · NYC Council