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Sick Time

The University recognizes that, at times, employees may be unable to work due to personal illness or injury, as well as the illness or injury of a family member. Effective April 1, 2014, the University began accruing NYC Safe and Sick Time pursuant to New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“Paid NYC Safe and Sick Leave Law”).

An overview of the NYC Paid Safe and Sick Time Law may be found online or via Paid Sick Leave -English.pdf (click to download PDF in English; other languages available for download here).

Employees must document all used NYC Safe and Sick Time and other personal illness time off using The New School’s Workday system.

Eligibility

All New School employees who work in New York State are covered by the New York Safe & Sick Time policy. Click on the drop-downs below to review additional details for specific employee groups.

Additional Information for Student Workers

Please note: Under the provisions of the Paid NYC Safe and Sick Leave Law, students working in Federal Work Study positions are specifically excluded from eligibility for Safe and Sick Time.

Additional Information for Part-Time Faculty

Employees who bargain collectively through a union must refer to their respective collective bargaining agreements regarding any sick time benefits. According to Article XX(A) of the collective bargaining agreement between ACT-UAW Local 7902, Article XXIX of the AFL-CIO Local 802 collective bargaining agreement and The New School, faculty members are entitled to take Safe and Sick or Emergency Instance time off.

Accrual Rates for NYC Safe and Sick Time

Pursuant to the Paid NYC Safe and Sick Leave Law, employees accrue NYC Safe and Sick Time at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 56 hours of NYC Safe and Sick Time per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). All employees who work more than 80 hours in each year except student workers being paid via Federal Work Study funds will accrue NYC Safe and Sick Time based one hour for every 30 hours worked up to the statutory maximum.

Any accrued but unused safe/sick time will be carried forward from year to year; however, covered employees may not use more than 56 hours of safe/sick time in any given fiscal year (though an employee may be eligible for additional paid medical leave under other university policies).

Eligible employees who are rehired by the university within 6 months of termination may use any accrued but unused safe/sick time from their prior position but are subject to the 56 hour maximum per fiscal year.

Unused NYC Safe & Sick Time

At the end of a fiscal year, any unused NYC Safe and Sick Time for that year will carry over to the new fiscal year; however, employees cannot use more than 56 hours of NYC Safe and Sick Time in a fiscal year and no more than 56 hours can be accrued at any time. This means that if in September the employee needs to use NYC Safe and Sick Time, even if they have 21 hours carryover from the year before and a new accrual of 56 hours becomes effective July 1, they may only use 56 hours of NYC Safe and Sick Time in that fiscal year.

Upon termination of employment for any reason and whether voluntary or involuntary, employees will not be paid for any unused accrued NYC Safe and Sick Time. However, when there is a separation from employment and the employee is rehired by the University within 6 months of separation, previously accrued unused NYC Safe and Sick Time will be reinstated to the rehired employee.

The New School does not pay out unused safe/sick time under this or any other policy at termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation from employment.

Email benefitshelp@newschool.edu for NYC Safe and Sick time off accrual details.

Acceptable Reasons to Use NYC Safe and Sick Time

Employees will be allowed to use all, or any portion, of their paid safe/sick time for:

  1. The employee’s mental or physical illness, injury or health condition, regardless of whether such illness, injury or health condition has been diagnosed or requires medical care at the time that such employee requests leave;
  2. The employee’s diagnosis, care or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition, or need for medical diagnosis, preventive care or elective surgery, including organ donations;
  3. To care for employee’s family member because of the family member’s mental or physical illness, injury or health condition, regardless of whether such illness, injury or health condition has been diagnosed or requires medical care at the time that such employee requests leave;
  4. To care for the employee’s family member because of the family member’s diagnosis, care or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition, or need for medical diagnosis, preventive care or elective surgery, including organ donations;
  5. When a public official orders the closure of an employee’s child’s school or child care provider due to a public health emergency;
  6. When a public official orders the closure of the employee’s place of business due to a public health emergency; or
  7. An absence from work due to any of the following reasons when the employee or the employee’s family member has been the victim of domestic violence, a family offense, sexual offense, stalking or human trafficking (“safe time”):
    1. to obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, rape crisis center, or other services program;
    2. to participate in safety planning, temporarily or permanently relocate, or take other actions to increase the safety of the employee or employee’s family members;
    3. to meet with an attorney or other social services provider to obtain information and advice on, and prepare for or participate in, any criminal or civil proceeding;
    4. to file a complaint or domestic incident report with law enforcement;
    5. to meet with a district attorney’s office;
    6. to enroll children in a new school; or
    7. to take any other actions necessary to ensure the health or safety of the employee or employee’s family member or to protect those who associate or work with the employee.

Family Members

Family member is defined as a spouse, registered domestic partner, son or daughter (biological, adopted, foster, stepchild, legal ward, grandchild, or child of a person standing in loco parentis), sibling (including step-siblings, half-siblings, and siblings-in-law), parent, parent of a spouse, spouse of a child, and spouse of siblings, and any other individual whose close association with the faculty member is the equivalent of a family relationship.

Using NYC Safe and Sick Time

Employees must notify their supervisors, college, and Human Resources if they intend to use NYC Safe and Sick Time, and must document all used NYC Safe and Sick Time and other personal illness time off using The New School’s Workday system. NYC Safe and Sick Time may be taken in increments of .25 hours (15 minutes).

New employees may begin to use accrued time upon hire.

General Instructions for all Employees

  1. Employees must follow the department's/program’s established call-in procedure or scheduling procedure for approved absences.
  2. When safe or sick leave is foreseeable, Employees must provide 7 calendar days’ advance written notice of their intention to take safe or sick leave to their supervisor and submit their time off via Myday for supervisor's approval.
    1. If safe or sick leave is unforeseeable, the employee shall provide written notice of the use of the leave to their supervisor as soon as reasonably practicable. Failure to provide the required timely notice may result in a denial of the leave, unless unusual circumstances justify the failure to comply.
  3. Employees must record all sick time by entering the time off request in MyDay.

Additional Instructions for Part-Time Faculty

Per Article IX, Sections F-H of the CBA, part-time faculty will notify their Chair, Program Director or other appropriate supervisor of any upcoming absence from a scheduled class session, and confirm an Absence Plan, which is subject to final approval by their academic Chair, Program Director or School/College Dean. Once their academic leadership has been notified, they should proceed with entering their time off election in MyDay. For additional information and step-by-step instructions to request sick time or emergency instance leave, please review the Part-Time Faculty Time Off Checklist.

Please note: In the event that a PTF was absent from teaching and neglected to make a NYC Safe and Sick or Emergency Instance election by the last business day of the semester, the university reserves the right to make a default election to Emergency Instance.

If an employee’s general health is causing frequent or regular absences, they should be directed to contact Human Resources at benefitshelp@newschool.edu.

Documentation

For an absence over consecutive workdays, for sick time, employees may be required to provide reasonable documentation that the use of sick time was authorized by the Paid Safe and Sick Leave Laws. Reasonable documentation may include a written note from a victim services organization, attorney, member of a clergy, or medical provider, and a police or court record. Fraudulent use of safe/sick time or failure to provide requested documentation may be the basis for disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

For absences that last more than three (3) consecutive work days due to illness, injury, medical condition, or disability, employees must contact the Office of Human Resources Benefits Team at benefitshelp@newschool.edu regarding FMLA and short-term disability eligibility.

The university will not require the disclosure of details relating to an employee's or his, her, or their family member's medical condition or require the disclosure of details relating to an employee's or his, her or their family member's status as a victim of domestic violence, family offenses, sexual offenses, stalking, or human trafficking as a condition of providing sick leave or safe leave. This information is considered confidential and will not be disclosed, except by the affected employee, with the written permission of the affected employee or as required by law.

Anti-Retaliation

A covered employee cannot be retaliated against for requesting or using sick leave in accordance with this Policy. Retaliation includes any threat, intimidation, discipline, discharge, demotion, suspension, harassment, discrimination, or reduction in hours or pay, or any other adverse employment action against an employee who exercises or attempts to exercise any right provided under applicable law or this Policy.

Additional Leave for Personal Illness for Non-Union Administrative Staff

This policy does not eliminate or change the vacation or floating holiday policies for staff. If necessary, staff may use vacation and/or floating holidays if NYC Safe and Sick Time has been exhausted. However, if NYC Safe and Sick Time is exhausted, please notify Human Resources, as short-term disability and/or Family and Medical Leave Act rules may apply. The University may require documentation from a licensed health care provider if an employee uses more than 3 days (21 hours for full-time staff, or a pro-rated number of hours for part-time staff) of consecutive workdays as NYC Safe and Sick Time.

For non-union administrative staff of The New School, in addition to the NYC Safe and Sick Time described above, there is no set number of leave days available for personal illness. Individuals who are out sick are paid for the day. However, these days must be used for the employee’s personal illness only, and cannot be applied to care for family members. An employee absent because of personal illness must notify his/her supervisor and/or department head as close as possible to his or her scheduled start time. Employees recording this type of sick time should use the time off entry type "Sick" when requesting time off in MyDay.

Responsibilities

Supervisors and employees are responsible for the appropriate use of NYC Safe and Sick Time and leave days due to personal illness.

Supervisors throughout the divisions and departments/programs are responsible for monitoring NYC Safe and Sick Time and leave for personal illness following general university guidelines. They must contact the Human Resources office immediately where there are instances of three or more consecutive days of absence, or a pattern of abuse, and a doctor’s note submitted directly to Human Resources may be required in such instances. Supervisors must review and approve employees’ NYC Safe and Sick Time in MyDay before submitting to Human Resources and/or Payroll in a timely fashion.

Employees are responsible for following established division and department/program scheduling and call-in procedures. Exempt employees must document all used NYC Safe and Sick Time and other personal illness time off using The New School’s Workday system. Non-exempt employees who normally complete time sheets must document all used Sick Time on their time sheets or time entries in Workday.

For additional information, please call the Benefits Help Line at 212-229-5671 X4942 or send an e-mail to benefitshelp@newschool.edu. Click to read more about the city's Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law and download summaries for employees.

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