New York State Paid Sick and Safe Leave/Westchester Sick Leave
Sarah Lawrence College is in compliance with the New York State Paid Sick and Safe Leave Law and Westchester County's Paid Sick Leave Law which require employers to provide the following notice to all current employees, as well as new employees at the commencement of their employment: Notice of Employee Rights
Please note that for most employee classifications, the College’s existing sick leave policies are more generous than that required under the new law. The new policy below now affords sick leave to the following groups of employees who were not previously eligible under the College’s sick leave policy:
- Guest Faculty
- Staff working less than 21 hours per week
- Student Employees
In accordance with the Paid Safe and Sick Leave Laws, employees can use up to fifty-six (56) hours of sick and safe time for the reasons described below. An employee's use of paid safe and sick time under this policy automatically runs concurrently with use of paid sick time under any other applicable College policies. Anything beyond fifty-six (56) hours is subject to the requirements under the College's other sick leave policies.
- An employee's own mental or physical illness, injury or health condition or need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition or need for preventative medical care.
- Care of a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition or who needs preventative medical care. Family members are defined under the Act as an employee's child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, or the child or parent of an employee's spouse or domestic partner.
- Closure of an employee's place of business by order of a public official due to a public health emergency or such employee's need to care for a child whose school or childcare provider has been closed by order of a public official due to a public health emergency.
- An employee or an employee’s family member may be the victim of any act or threat of domestic violence or unwanted sexual contact, a family offense, stalking, or human trafficking, and the employee needs to take actions necessary to restore the physical, psychological, or economic health or safety of the employee or their family members or to protect those who associate or work with the employee, including to:
- Obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, rape crisis center, or other services program
- Participate in safety planning, relocate, enroll a child in a new school or take other actions to protect their safety or that of their family members
- Meet with an attorney or social service provider to obtain information and advice related to custody; visitation; matrimonial issues; orders of protection; immigration; housing; and discrimination in employment, housing, or consumer credit
- File a complaint or domestic incident report with law enforcement or meet with a district attorney’s office.
- Enroll children in a new school.
- Take any other actions necessary to ensure the health or safety of the employee or the employee’s family member or to protect those who associate or work with the employee.
Documentation:
For absences of more than three (3) consecutive workdays under this policy, the College may require:
- Employees who use sick leave must provide medical documentation signed by a licensed health care provider or other reasonable documentation.
- Employees who use safe leave must provide reasonable documentation by a signed agent of an organization, through which the employee received assistance; a member of the clergy, or an attorney; or a notarized letter from the employee explaining the need for the use of a safe leave.
- In no event shall anything herein be construed as requiring an employee or an employee’s health care provider to disclose details of the employee’s or employee’s family member’s injury, illness, or condition that required the use of safe or sick leave, except as may be required by law.
Notice Requirements:
For safe and sick leave that is foreseeable (i.e. medical, dental, court appointments or any other scheduled service,) notice must be provided by the employee to his or her supervisor or department head at least seven (7) days in advance. If the need is unforeseeable, the College requests that employees give notice as soon as practicable.
Accrual:
Employees begin to accrue safe and sick leave on their first day of employment. Eligible student employees, temporary employees and adjunct faculty members accrue sick leave time at the rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 56 hours of sick leave per fiscal year. All other employees will continue to accrue sick leave time at the rate of ten days per year (prorated for part-time employees. Earned and unused sick time will carry over from one fiscal year to the next, in accordance with applicable law. However, no more than 56 hours of sick leave can be used in any given fiscal year the reasons illustrated above. Please note that for most employee classifications the College's existing sick leave policies are more generous than that required under the new law.
Termination of Employment:
Any accrued but unused sick time under this policy will not be paid out upon termination. Terminated employees are not entitled to a reimbursement of unused accrued sick time.
Retaliation:
An Employer cannot retaliate against employees for requesting or using sick leave.
Record Keeping:
College departments must keep and maintain records documenting the sick leave reasons for at least six (6) years.
The College will keep all safe and sick leave-related information confidential unless the employee permits the College to disclose their information or disclosure is required by law. All records must be made available to any county or state agency that has responsibility for enforcing the Paid Safe and Sick Time Laws.
Please see the following for a summary of guest faculty, student employee and other staff accrual amounts.
Schedule of Accrued Sick Leave
For all categories of College employees listed below, sick accruals may not be used in increments of less than 4 hours. Up to 56 hours of sick accruals may be carried into the next fiscal year.
Accrual Rates for Guest Faculty
Guest faculty accrue sick leave according to the following schedule, based upon an estimation of their anticipated hours:
(# of credits x # of courses (or teaching days, as applicable for undergraduate guests) x 2.25 x 15 weeks)*/30 =
# of sick hours earned per semester (capped at 56 hours per year)
For example:
| # of Credits |
# of Courses |
# of Sick Hours Per Semester |
| 3 |
1 |
3 hours |
| 4 |
1 |
4 hours |
| 5 |
1 |
5 hours |
*Note: This computation of hours is based upon an approved IRS method for converting faculty teaching loads into hours.
Undergraduate guest faculty should speak with the associate dean of the college to request to use sick leave. Graduate guest faculty should speak with the corresponding program director to request to use sick leave. These requests must then be confirmed for eligibility and reported to the College’s Office of Human Resources
Accrual Rates for Student Employees
Student employees accrue sick leave according to the following schedule: One sick hour for every 30 hours worked, up to the allowable limit of 56 hours of sick time in a year.
Students will accrue sick leave in the College’s payroll system, at this rate, based upon their actual hours worked. Sick accruals will be reflected on student pay stubs. Students should reflect their sick hours used on the timesheet submitted to their supervisor for approval. Students requesting to use sick time which they have not yet accrued, or for which they have insufficient hours in their sick time bank will not be paid for those hours.
Accrual Rates for Other Staff
Non-exempt/hourly: Non-exempt staff who work less than 21 hours will accrue sick leave according to the following schedule: One sick hour for every 30 hours worked, up to the allowable limit of 56 hours of sick time in a year.
Non-exempt staff will accrue sick leave in the College’s payroll system, at this rate, based upon their actual hours worked. Sick accruals will be reflected on pay stubs. Staff should reflect their sick hours used on the timesheet submitted to their supervisor for approval. Staff requesting to use sick time which they have not yet accrued, or for which they have insufficient hours in their sick time bank will not be paid for those hours.
Exempt/salaried: Exempt staff who work less than 21 hours will accrue sick leave according to the schedule of their projected average hours. One hour of sick time will be accrued for every 30 hours worked, up to the allowable limit of 56 hours of sick time per year. These projected accruals will be tracked in the Human Resources office, and sick time used by part-time exempt staff must be reported to Human Resources on a monthly basis by supervisors.