Employer Size.
6 RCNY § 7-202
in effect§ 7-202 Employer Size.
(a) Employer size shall be determined based on the employer's total number of employees nationwide. Employer size during a given calendar year shall be determined by counting the highest total number of employees concurrently employed at any point during the calendar year to date. For the purposes of counting the number of employees concurrently employed:
(1) Part-time employees shall be considered employed each working day of the calendar week;
(2) Employees jointly employed by more than one employer shall be counted by each employer, whether or not their names appear on the employer's payroll; and
(3) Employees on paid or unpaid leave, including protected time off, leaves of absence, disciplinary suspension, or any other type of temporary absence, shall be counted as long as the employer has a reasonable expectation that the employee will later return to active employment.
(b) For employers that increase the number of employees during a calendar year from fewer than five to between five to 99 employees:
(1) The duty to provide paid protected time off shall be prospective from the date of the increase in the number of employees and shall not entitle an employee to reimbursement for previously used unpaid protected time off.
(2) After the increase in the number of employees, an employer must allow an employee to use, and receive pay for, up to 40 hours of accrued protected time off, less the number of unpaid protected time off hours the employee had previously used in that calendar year.
Example: Liz is hired by an employer with only one other employee on January 1. The employer has a frontloading policy, so Liz has 72 hours of unpaid protected time off immediately available for use from the start of her employment: 40 hours of unpaid protected time off pursuant to § 20-913 b. and 32 immediately available hours pursuant to § 20-913 k. Liz uses 10 hours of protected time off from January 1 to May 31, bringing her balance of unpaid protected time off to 62 hours. On June 1, the employer brings on five additional employees, so the employer is now required to provide each employee with up to 40 hours of paid protected time off pursuant to § 20-913 b. plus 32 unpaid immediately available hours per year. If Liz uses any additional protected time off during this calendar year, she must be paid for up to 30 hours of protected time off used. The employer is not obligated to pay Liz for the 10 hours of protected time off she used before June 1.
(c) For employers that increase the number of employees during a calendar year from 99 or fewer to 100 or more, an employee's right to use additional paid protected time off up to 56 hours shall be prospective from the date of such increase in the number of employees.
Example: Shane works for an employer with a calendar year of January 1 - December 31 that has 90 employees. Shane carries over 20 hours of paid protected time off accrued in calendar year one to calendar year two of her employment. In June of calendar year two, the employer hires several new employees, bringing the total headcount to 110. Shane accrued 30 hours of paid protected time off between January and the date the employee headcount went over 99 employees, and did not use any paid protected time off in calendar year two. She therefore has 50 hours of paid protected time off available for immediate use: 30 hours accrued in calendar year two plus the 20 hours she carried over from calendar year one. She also has 32 unpaid immediately available hours.
(d) Reductions in the number of employees working for an employer shall not reduce employee protected time off entitlements under § 20-913 b. of the Administrative Code until the following calendar year.
Example: An employer with a calendar year of January 1 - December 31 has four employees. On April 1 the employer hires three new employees, bringing the employer's total number of employees to seven. On November 1, the employer lays off four employees, reducing the employer's total number of employees to three. The employer must begin providing paid protected time off to all employees on April 1. The employer must continue providing paid protected time off to the three remaining employees through at least December 31, the last day of the current calendar year.
(Amended City Record 2/3/2016, eff. 3/4/2016; amended City Record 8/21/2018, eff. 9/20/2018; amended City Record 9/15/2023, eff. 10/15/2023; amended City Record 6/23/2026, eff. 7/23/2026)
Source: City of New York, Charter, Administrative Code and Rules (American Legal Publishing XML export, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCrules/0-0-0-20528Fetched: 10/24/2026