NYC Employers Must Allow Leave for Child COVID-19 Vaccinations

New York City has enacted a law requiring employers to provide paid leave for employees to accompany their children to COVID-19 vaccination appointments and care for them during vaccine recovery.

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Published: 01.07.2022

New York City has enacted a law requiring employers to provide paid leave for employees to accompany their children to COVID-19 vaccination appointments and care for them during vaccine recovery. The law was enacted Dec. 24, 2021, and is retroactive to Nov. 2, 2021. It expires Dec. 31, 2022.

Leave Requirement
The new law amends the city’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act by requiring employers to provide all employees with paid child COVID-19 vaccination time. Employees are eligible for the leave if they are parents of a child under the age of 18 (or an older child, if the older child is incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability). The amount of leave required is four hours per injection for each child, to:

• Accompany the child to receive a COVID-19 vaccine injection; or
• Care for the child during any temporary vaccine side effects.

Employees must be paid at their regular rate and no later than the payday for the pay period following the leave. Employees’ use of child vaccination leave may not be charged against their accrual or use of leave under the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act.

Employers may require reasonable notice of leave (up to seven days if foreseeable) and documentation of a child’s vaccination within seven days.

Retroactivity
The child vaccination time requirement is retroactive to Nov. 2, 2021, meaning employers must pay employees who used leave time for the purposes allowed by the law between Nov. 2 and Dec. 24, 2021. The payment must be made by the payday for the next pay period after Dec. 24.
 
Source: Zywave HR360