Requires employers of domestic workers to provide annual sick leave to such workers

• Democratic12

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Jessica Ramos says this is needed

The New York Paid Sick Leave law guaranteeing most workers in New York State access to paid sick leave passed the NY legislature and was signed into law in 2020 and began providing workers with paid sick leave on January 1, 2021. The law gives all New Yorkers who work for employers who employ 5 or more employees access to paid sick leave. Workers for employers of fewer than 5 employees receive only unpaid sick leave unless their employer had a net income of more than $1 million in the previous tax year. The paid sick leave law, coming as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been a lifeline for millions of New Yorkers. The New York Paid Sick Leave law in its current form excludes most domestic workers who are not in New York City or Westchester County from paid sick time. The current wording of the state-wide paid sick leave statute does not cover domestic workers in private homes for paid sick leave purposes, only for unpaid sick leave due to the exclusion from paid sick leave for workers who work for employers with fewer than 5 employees and a net income of $1 million or less in the previous tax year. Both New York City and Westchester County have passed coverage to explicitly include 40 hours of paid sick leave for domestic workers, which this proposal will reflect at the state level. There is an unfortunate history of excluding domestic workers from important labor law coverage. Much of that has been rectified but the exclusion of this workforce from the New York State Paid Sick Leave law is an artifact of the prejudice against including domestic workers as real employees. Coverage of domestic workers under our labor laws is a matter of basic equity and inclusion. Nationwide, over 90 percent of domestic workers are women, and a majority are immigrants, Black, and other women of color. According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, there are 328,000 domestic workers in New York. These workers perform essential work caring for children, elderly loved ones, and homes, and helping people with disa- bilities live independent lives. They are home care workers, nannies, and house cleaners, and they comprise a large and growing workforce. Throughout the coronavirus crisis, domestic workers have been placed under double pressure. Already underpaid, many have lost their jobs, or lost hours on the job, putting them under added financial stress. Even when on the job, however, domestic workers find themselves under added physical and psychological stress, acting as essential workers during a pandemic at some risk to their own health as they protect the health of others. These workers need and deserve paid sick leave. This important revision to the New York State Paid Sick Leave law will remedy the exclusion of domestic workers from the entitlement to paid sick leave throughout New York State in the same way these workers have been covered in New York City and Westchester.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.