The City Council of New York City has passed by a vote of 48 to 3 a resolution supporting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed amendments to the City’s soon-to-be-effective paid sick leave law, which include lowering the threshold for coverage from 15 employees to 5. Mayor de Blasio is expected to sign the legislation cementing the expansion of the current law set to become effective on April 1st. (For information on the current legislation and employer obligations, see our article, New York City Employers Must Prepare for Paid Sick Leave, Going into Effect April 1, 2014.)

Major modifications to the original law will include: 

(i) the expansion of coverage, as noted, to employers with at least 5 employees, rather than 15 (it remains unclear whether the threshold number of employees must be employed in New York City);

(ii) the removal of an exclusion for certain manufacturing industry employers; and

(iii) the addition of siblings (such as half-siblings, stepsiblings, or siblings related through adoption), grandchildren and grandparents to the list of relatives for whom an employee may take sick leave for caretaking purposes. (For information on the modifications, see our article,Modifications to New York City Earned Sick Leave Act Proposed.)