NYC: Accommodation of “Personal Event”

Effective July 18th, New York City employers will be required to grant employees temporary changes to their work schedules for “personal events”.

The Fair Workweek Law previously only covered the fast-food restaurant and retail industries, but will now cover all NYC employers. The update requires employers to allow two temporary changes to work schedules for requests related to providing care to a minor or care recipient, or for events such as legal proceedings or hearings. Baker Hostetler outlines that the temporary changes to work schedules must be granted when the requests relate to:

(1) the need for a caregiver to provide care to a minor child or a care recipient; (2) an employee’s need to attend a legal proceeding or hearing for subsistence benefits to which the employee, a family member or the employee’s care recipient is a party; or (3) any reason that is permitted under the New York Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESTA). These three reasons are referred to as a “personal event.”

The temporary change can be for up to one business day per request, and the employer can accommodate the request through paid time off, remote working, changing hours, or using unpaid leave.

The request may be denied only if:

(1) the employee has already used his or her two requests/business days, (2) the employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement that waives the provisions of the law and itself addresses temporary changes to work schedules, (3) the employee has been employed for less than 120 days, or (4) the employee works less than 80 hours per calendar year in New York City.

NYC employers should review their current policies and adjust as necessary to ensure compliance with the new law.

For more information, please click here.


The information included in this blog post originally appeared in an article in JD Supra on June 8, 2018, written by Amy Traub and Amanda Van Hoose Garofalo of Baker Hostetler.

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