New York Labor Law Guide

Employers in New York need to comply with tax, wage, and labor laws that affect their employees. While federal laws cover employers in all states, there are also state- and city-specific regulations that employers must follow. Here’s what you need to know about labor laws in New York.

New York Minimum Wage

In general, employees must be paid at least the highest of the federal, state, or applicable local minimum wage rates.

New York has various minimum wage rates depending on the location of work.

In New York City and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, the minimum wage is $15/hour.

The rest of New York State has a minimum wage of $13.20/hour with annual increases until the rate reaches $15/hour. These increases will be published before October 1. They will be based on economic indices, including the Consumer Price Index.

Tip Credit Wage

Employers in certain industries can satisfy the New York minimum wage requirement by combining cash wages paid by the employer plus credit for tips the employee receives from customers. The minimum hourly rates New York employers must pay most tipped employees as of December 31, 2021 are:

Service/Hospitality Employees

New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester: $12.50 per hour / $2.50 tip credit
Remainder of New York State: $11.00 per hour / $2.20 tip credit

Food Service Employees

New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester: $10 per hour / $5 tip credit
Remainder of New York State: $8.80 per hour / $4.40 tip credit

New York Overtime Laws

Employees in New York are required to be paid at least time and a half for hours worked over 40 in a seven-day workweek. Overtime compensation is not required when work is performed on a holiday.

To be exempt from the payment of overtime, administrative and executive employees must (among other things) be paid a certain minimum weekly salary amount. Each time the New York State minimum wage increases, the minimum salary required (under state law) for executive and administrative employees increases proportionately. The dollar amount of the salary threshold also depends on the employer’s location (and size, if located in New York City).

These are the 2022 thresholds, effective December 31, 2021:

New York City, Westchester and Long Island: $1,125.00/week
Remainder of New York state: $990.00/week

New York State Unemployment Tax & Rate

In New York, the new employer SUI (state unemployment insurance) rate is 4.025 percent, and the re-employment services fund (RSF) rate is .075 percent for a total obligation of 4.10 percent on the first $12,000 of an employee’s wages.  Employers with previous employees may be subject to a different rate. This is an employer-only tax.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Employers in New York are required to have workers’ compensation coverage for any employee, including part-time employees and family members employed by the company.

Disability Benefits Insurance

New York is one of five states that require household employers to make additional employee withholdings for disability benefits insurance. This program provides short-term benefits to employees who are unable to work due to a non-work-related illness or injury including pregnancy. Disability insurance may be purchased from any insurance company authorized to write disability benefits insurance in New York including the State Insurance Fund. You are authorized to collect from your employee, through a payroll deduction, a contribution of 0.5 – one percent of wages paid, but not in excess of 60 cents per week. You can also make this contribution on behalf of your employee.

Payroll and Paystub Notice

Employers are required to provide each employee with a statement with every payment of wages, listing the following:

• The dates of work covered by that payment of wages;
• Name of employee, name of employer, and address and phone number of employer;
• Rate(s) of pay and basis of the wage payment, such as hourly, shift, daily, weekly, salary, piece or commission;
• Gross wages;
• Deductions;
• Allowances, if any, claimed as part of the minimum wage; and
• Net wages.

For employees who are not exempt from overtime pay, this statement must also include:

• The regular hourly rate or rates of pay;
• The overtime rate or rates of pay;
• The number of regular hours worked; and
• The number of overtime hours worked.

Payroll records showing the hours worked per week, the rate or rates of pay and the basis of the wage payment, gross wages, deductions, allowances, and net wages for each employee also must be maintained by the employer for six years.

Equal Pay Law

New York’s Equal Pay Law prohibits employers from paying different wages to employees solely because they belong to a protected class. This means that employers must pay the same wages to employees who perform substantially similar work.

Protected classes in New York are groups based on the following characteristics:

• Age
• Color
• Creed
• Disability
• Domestic violence victim status
• Familial status
• Gender expression
• Gender identity
• Marital status
• Military status
• National origin
• Predisposing genetic characteristics
• Race
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Under this law, employers could be penalized by the New York Department of Labor up to $500 for each violation of paying different rates for protected classes. Employees can also file lawsuits against employers for such violations.

Paid Sick Leave – New York State

Under New York State’s Paid Sick Leave Law, workers employed in the state can use job-protected, paid, or unpaid sick leave for certain designated purposes beginning January 1, 2021. Businesses with between one and four employees must provide up to 40 hours of unpaid leave. Businesses with five or more employees are required to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave. Sick leave can be used for treatment, care, preventative care, and diagnosis for an employee’s or employee’s family member’s illness, injury, or health condition. Employees accrue sick leave at a rate of at least one hour per 30 hours worked. Employers now must provide a summary of the amounts of sick leave accrued and used in any calendar year within three business days of an employee’s request. Employers must also retain records of leave accrual and usage for each employee for six years.

Paid Family Leave – New York State

New York State employers are required to provide paid family leave (PFL) to their employees. Paid leave can be taken for various family or medical reasons including:

• Bond with a newborn, adopted, or foster-care child during the first 12 months after birth or placement
• Care for a seriously ill family member
• Address important needs related to a family member’s military service

Paid family leave is also available in some situations when an employee or their minor, dependent child is under an order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19.

Employees who work 20 or more hours a week and at least 30 days in a calendar year are covered. Full-time employees are eligible after 26 consecutive weeks of employment and part-time employees who work 20 hours or fewer per week are eligible after 175 working days (doesn’t need to be consecutive).

The program is paid for by employees through an additional payroll deduction. Or, as an employer, you can pay the cost on your employee’s behalf. The contribution rate beginning January 1, 2022, is 0.506 percent plus a risk adjustment of 0.005 percent for a total of 0.511 percent of an employee’s wages. The annual maximum contribution is $423.71. Employees taking paid family leave receive 67 percent of their average weekly wage up to a maximum weekly benefit of $1,068.36.

Paid Safe and Sick Leave – New York City

New York City’s Paid Safe and Sick Time Act (also referred to as the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act or ESSTA) requires employers to:

• provide employees with 40 hours of paid safe and sick leave;
• allow employees to use safe and sick leave as it is accrued;
• reimburse employees who must pay for required documentation after three consecutive workdays of leave;
• list on employees’ paystubs (or any document issued each pay period):
  • amounts of accrued and used sick and safe leave during the pay period
  • total balance of accrued safe and sick leave

Leave must be paid at the employee’s regular rate.

New York City’s paid sick leave law was amended to require employers to provide workers who are parents or legal guardians of a child with four hours of leave for COVID-19 child vaccination time, per injection and per child. The amendment became effective on December 24, 2021, and is retroactive to November 2, 2021. An employee who is a parent may use child vaccination leave to either accompany the child to get a COVID-19 vaccine injection or care for their child who is experiencing temporary side effects from vaccination. For employees of an employer with five or more workers, this child vaccination leave is paid. If the employer has fewer than five workers, then the leave is unpaid.

To be eligible, the employee’s child must be under 18, or a child of any age who is incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability. Child vaccination leave is in addition to any existing sick leave provided to the worker. An employer cannot require their workers to work additional hours to make up for the time missed. However, employers may require up to seven days of “reasonable notice” of the need to use child vaccination leave. An employer can also request reasonable documentation showing the child’s receipt of the COVID-19 vaccination injection within seven days of use of the leave. Child vaccination leave must be paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Meals and Rest Breaks

Meal and rest break laws in New York apply to private employers as follows:

Meal Breaks

• Employees who work a shift of more than six hours which extends over the noonday meal period (11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.) are entitled to at least 30 minutes off within that period for a meal break.
• Employees whose shift starts before 11 a.m. and continues until after 7 p.m. must be allowed an additional meal period of at least 20 minutes between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
• Employees who work a shift of more than six hours starting between 1 p.m. and 6 a.m. must be allowed at least 45 minutes for a meal break midway between the beginning and end of their shift.
• In situations where only one employee is on duty or is the only one in a specific occupation, the employee may voluntarily agree to eat on the job without being relieved of duties.
  • Employers must provide an uninterrupted meal period if requested by the employee.
• The New York Department of Labor may permit (in writing) shorter meal periods under certain circumstances.
  • The permit must be conspicuously posted in the main entrance of the workplace and may be revoked at any time.

Rest Breaks

• Rest breaks are not required by law, but if a break (of up to 20 minutes) is permitted, it should be paid as working time. Rest breaks must be counted as hours worked for purposes of minimum wage and overtime requirements under federal law. These breaks include short periods (usually 20 minutes or fewer) that employees are allowed to spend away from the work site for any reason—for example, smoke breaks, restroom breaks, and breaks to make personal phone calls or to get coffee or soft drinks.

Breastfeeding Breaks

• Employers must provide reasonable break time each day to allow employees to express breast milk for up to three years following childbirth.
  • The break time may be a separate unpaid break, or employers may allow employees to use paid meal or break times.
• Employers must make reasonable efforts to provide a room or area in close proximity to the work area where employees can express breast milk in privacy.
• Discrimination against employees who choose to express breast milk in the workplace is prohibited.

Day of Rest Requirement

• Employees working in the following establishments must be allowed a rest period of at least 24 consecutive hours each calendar week:
  • Factories;
  • Mercantile establishments;
  • Hotels;
  • Restaurants; and
  • Office and apartment buildings (certain employees only).

Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

Employers in New York State must provide annual sexual harassment prevention training for their employees and are required to establish a sexual harassment prevention policy. Even if you are a sole proprietor, the law covers independent contractors, volunteers, and non-employees. Trainings must be designed to train both employees/owners with supervisory duties and a separate training for staff.

New York State provides a model sexual harassment policy that employers can adopt as their own.

Domestic Violence Victim Leave

New York employers must grant leave for domestic violence victims. You must provide a reasonable amount of leave to:

• Seek medical attention for injuries caused by domestic violence (including for a child victim);
• Obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, program, or rape crisis center as a result of domestic violence;
• Obtain psychological counseling related to an incident of domestic violence (including for a child victim);
• Participate in safety planning and take other actions to increase safety from future incidents of domestic violence, including temporary or permanent relocation; or
• Obtain legal services, assist in the prosecution of the offense, or appear in court in relation to the incident of domestic violence.

An exception will be granted if employers can show the leave will cause undue hardship. Employees may need to provide advance notice of the leave or documentation of the leave when it is not foreseeable.

Failure to provide the leave as required will constitute an unlawful discriminatory practice and you could be subject to civil fines and penalties of up to $50,000, or $100,000 if the violation is found to be willful, wanton, or malicious. Victims may also be awarded back pay and damages. Employers must maintain the confidentiality of any information about an employee’s status as a victim of domestic violence, to the extent allowed by law.

Final Pay

Under New York state law, requirements regarding timing of the final paycheck may depend on whether an employee is terminated or voluntarily quits. Here are the final paycheck requirements in New York.

If the Employee is Involuntarily Terminated

The final paycheck is due by the next regular payday. If the employee so requests, the wages must be mailed.

If the Employee Quits

The final paycheck is due by the next regular payday. If the employee so requests, the wages must be mailed.

Payment of Unused Benefits on Termination

Whether an employer must pay for unused time depends upon the terms of the vacation and/or resignation policy. New York courts have held that an agreement to give benefits or wage supplements, like vacation, can specify that employees lose accrued benefits under certain conditions. To be valid, the employer must have told employees, in writing, of the conditions that nullify the benefit.

For more information on New York labor laws, visit the New York Department of Labor’s website.

GTM Helps Keep You Compliant with New York Labor Laws

With new laws and amended regulations occurring frequently in the state, it’s important that employers are up to date. Our human capital management platform lets you collect new employee information, confirm eligibility, send required notices, calculate tax payments, and implement safeguards to avoid penalties and ensure compliance across your workforce. And our HR consulting services will ensure you are following state laws for harassment training and other requirements. Request a free quote to learn more.