Press Release
Statement: Community Service Society Praises Governor Cuomo for his Proposal to Require Paid Sick Leave Statewide, Announced in his 2020 State of the State Address
With his proposal to ensure access to paid sick days for employees throughout New York State in yesterday’s State of the State Address, Governor Andrew Cuomo took another important, much needed step toward protecting workers, their families and the public health. This step builds on the Governor’s progressive leadership in enacting a strong paid family leave law that gives working New Yorkers the ability to care for their newborns and seriously ill family members without jeopardizing their jobs and financial security.
But we know that just as important is the ability of working New Yorkers to get health care and recover from more routine illnesses, and to tend to a sick child or family member. The Community Service Society was an early proponent of paid sick leave and a leading advocate for passage of New York City’s landmark 2013 law, and its expansion in 2014, guaranteeing workers the right to sick time as a basic labor standard. That law has been successful in enabling workers to stay home when needed to care for their own illnesses or sick family members without losing their pay or their jobs, and avoid spreading illness to co-workers, customers and commuters. At the same time, the local economy has recorded record job growth.
It’s time to extend that success in New York City, and in Westchester, where a similar law went into effect in 2019, to the approximately 1.3 million workers statewide*, that we estimate still lack even a single paid sick day. Lack of sick leave disproportionately affects low-income New Yorkers, who can least afford to lose a day’s pay or risk their jobs when illness strikes. Of the 1.3 million workers without paid sick leave, more than half are in the bottom wage quartile, earning under $22,000 annually.**
The Governor’s proposal, like NYC’s law, would give workers in businesses of 5 to 99 employees at least five paid sick days a year. Employers of fewer than five workers would be required to provide five unpaid days of job-protected leave. Cuomo is proposing to go beyond NYC’s current law to give employees of larger businesses of 100 or more, 7 paid sick days.
We commend the Governor for his proposal to extend a basic, essential labor standard—paid sick leave—to workers throughout New York. And we look forward to working with the Governor, state lawmakers, and advocates across the state to enact the best possible state law.