Fri, 04/02/2021
Effective March 12, 2021, employers in New York must grant their employees up to four hours of paid leave for time spent receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. The leave entitlement under the new law runs through December 31, 2022.
The law requires employers provide up to four hours of leave for each dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. For vaccines that require two doses (for example, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines) the employer would be required to provide a total of eight hours, while employees who receive vaccines that only require one dose (for example, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine) will only be entitled to up to four hours of leave.
The law also protects employees from retaliation for requesting or taking vaccination leave.
The law does not describe procedures for requesting vaccination leave, or specify what sort of documentation, if any, an employer may request from employees for the purposes of verifying that their vaccination leave was used for an approved purpose. However, the EEOC has concluded that such requests are not disability-related inquiries for the purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act, so long as the employer’s inquiry is limited to proof of vaccination. See Answer to Question K.3.
