NY lawful absence law

Effective February 19, 2023, NY employers are prohibited from assessing any demerit, occurrence, or any other point, or deductions from an allotted bank of time, which subjects or could subject an employee to disciplinary action for taking any legally protected absence under federal, local, or state law. Therefore, any leave taken under such laws are job protected.

Employers are also prohibited from having “no fault” attendance policies and absence control procedures, that might penalize employees for taking such leave. Applying no fault attendance policies is be seen as retaliation under this provision, even if the points don’t result in discipline or termination.

Many employers have no fault attendance policies where employees accrue "points" or "occurrences" when they are late or miss work, with certain exceptions for company-provided paid time off, job-protected leave such as FMLA leave, leave as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and other approved time off. NY Senate bill 1958A, amending Section 215 of the New York Labor Law