Developments in New York and New York City Employment Law: What Employers Need To Know Going Into 2025

As we head into a new year, employers should make plans to implement developments in various areas of employment law that will take effect in 2025 while confirming compliance with changes that have occurred over the past year. This alert highlights those changes for New York State and New York City and covers what employers can do to prepare for these developments.

New York State

New York Clean Slate Act, Effective Nov. 16, 2024

The New York Clean Slate Act (or the Act), which took effect Nov. 16, 2024, provides for the automatic sealing of certain convictions when certain periods of time have passed, after which information regarding the sealed convictions generally will no longer be available in connection with criminal background checks. The Act amends New York Criminal Procedure Law Section 160.57 to require the New York State Unified Court System to seal eligible convictions by no later than Nov. 16, 2027. Thereafter, all eligible convictions will be sealed automatically. Relatedly, the Act also amends New York State Human Rights Law Section 296(16), which prohibits employers from inquiring into or taking adverse action against applicants or employees based on such sealed convictions.

Importantly, the Act requires employers to provide additional notices to applicants and employees as to criminal history information the employer receives, regardless of whether the employer is considering taking an adverse action on the basis of an applicant’s or employee’s criminal record. For more information on the Clean Slate Act and employers’ obligations under the Act, please consult our recent alert.

New York’s COVID-19 Sick Leave Law, Expiring July 31, 2025

New York’s COVID-19 Sick Leave Law (or the Law) (amending N.Y. Lab. L. §196-b) will expire on July 31, 2025.

Currently, employers are required to provide at least 5 or 14 calendar days (depending on employer size) of sick leave (in most cases, paid) for employees unable to work because they are subject to a mandatory order of isolation issued by New York State, the Department of Health, the local board of health or any government entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, and are experiencing symptoms that make them unable to work from home. 

Note that after the Law sunsets on July 31, 2025, employees may still be eligible for paid leave or benefits under the New York Paid Family Leave Law, New York’s Paid Sick Leave Law, or New York City’s Earned Sick and Safe Time Law.

Expanded Benefits for Pregnant and Post-Partum Employees in New York

New York State and New York City both recently passed laws expanding benefits for pregnant and post-partum employees.

Paid lactation breaks are required as of June 19, 2024. Under Bill No. A08806C, amending N.Y. Labor Law Section 206-c, New York employers are required to provide 30-minute paid breaks to nursing employees to express breast milk per occurrence (i.e., as often as a nursing employee reasonably needs to express breast milk).

In addition, starting Jan. 1, 2025, under N.Y. Labor Law Section 196-b, New York employers will be required to provide twenty (20) hours of paid time off, in addition to employees’ existing Paid Sick and Safe Leave, to employees for prenatal care or any medical care related to pregnancy every fifty-two (52) week period. New York City also enhanced its lactation room accommodation policies.

Effective March 9, 2025, in an amendment to New York City Administrative Code Section 8-107(22), New York City employers with four or more employees will be required to provide paid break time to nursing employees to express breast milk; distribute and post a written lactation policy; and engage in a cooperative dialogue regarding lactation accommodations and provide the relevant employee with a written notice regarding whether any accommodation was ultimately granted or denied.

Please review our recent alert on paid lactation breaks, paid prenatal leave and lactation accommodation policies under New York State and New York City laws in 2025.

Freelance Isn’t Free Act, Effective Aug. 28, 2024

On Aug. 28, 2024, the “Freelance Isn’t Free Act” (the Act), N.Y. Gen. Bus. L. § 44-A, went into effect after a lengthy delay. The Act, which is similar to its New York City predecessor with the same name, expands protections for freelancers and independent contractors and imposes new requirements on hiring parties who work with them in New York State. At its core, the Act requires that there be a written contract between a hiring party and a freelancer for services provided. The written contract must include, among other things, certain basic information such as an itemization of all services to be provided by the freelance worker, the value of the services to be provided pursuant to the contract, the rate and method of compensation, the payment date, and applicable deadlines. N.Y. Gen. Bus. L. § 1412. The hiring party is also required to keep the written contract for “a period of no less than six years” and must make the contract available to the attorney general on request. Failure to maintain or produce the written contract to the attorney general gives rise to a presumption in favor of the freelancer “that the terms that the freelance worker has presented are the agreed upon terms.”

The Act also includes antiretaliation and antidiscrimination provisions. Freelancers can bring a civil action for damages for nonpayment or retaliation or file a complaint with the Department of Labor, which can assess civil and criminal penalties. The New York State Attorney General can also sue the hiring party in a civil action and seek fines up to $25,000, injunctive relief and other relief.

Updates to the New York Paid Family Leave Law, Effective Jan. 1, 2025

Several updates to the New York Paid Family Leave Law (NYPFLL) will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025. The NYPFLL provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of job-protected, partially paid time off (1) to bond with a new child following birth, adoption or placement in the home; (2) to care for a covered family member with a serious health condition; or (3) for qualifying exigencies related to military duty.

Effective Jan. 1, 2025:

• Eligible employees taking leave under the NYPFLL will continue to receive 67% of their average weekly wage for up to 12 weeks in a 52-week period, at 67% of the current Statewide Average Weekly Wage (NYSAWW). For 2025, the NYSAWW is $1,757.19, which means that the maximum weekly benefit for 2025 is $1,177.32 (a $26.16 increase from 2024).
• Eligible employees will contribute 0.388% of their gross wages per pay period, with the maximum annual contribution for 2025 set at $354.53. Employees earning less than the current NYSAWW of $1,757.19 will contribute less than the annual cap of $354.53, consistent with their actual wages.

New York City

Amendments to the New York City Human Rights Law, Effective May 11, 2024

The New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) was amended, effective May 11, 2024, to prohibit New York City employers from entering into any agreement that shortens the statutory periods in which a civil action may be commenced or a complaint or claim may be filed with the New York City Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) relating to unlawful discriminatory practices, harassment or violence under the NYCHRL. The new law declares such restrictions to be against public policy.

Under current law, employees must file a complaint with the NYCCHR within one year of the last alleged act of unlawful discrimination, and within three years of the last alleged act of gender-based harassment. Employees have three years to commence a civil action alleging an unlawful discriminatory practice or act of discriminatory harassment or violence under the NYCHRL.

Employers should review their employment agreements to ensure compliance with these amendments.

Workers’ Bill of Rights Poster Required To Be Provided and Displayed, Beginning July 1, 2024

As of July 1, 2024, under New York City’s Workers’ Bill of Rights law (Local Law Int. 2023/161), New York City employers are required to conspicuously post in the workplace and provide to current and new employees a poster explaining the Workers’ Bill of Rights.

The Workers’ Bill of Rights, published by the New York Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), contains a QR code, which connects to a website detailing rights under relevant federal, state and local law that apply to employees, prospective employees or independent contractors in New York City. For first-time violations of the obligation to provide and display the poster, employers are given 30 days to cure the violation without facing a penalty. After a first violation, employers that fail to satisfy the notice and posting requirements could face a $500 civil penalty under the law.

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For questions or concerns regarding any of the issues raised in this alert, please contact a member of Kramer Levin’s Employment Law Department.