New York ends paid sick leave for COVID-19 five years after pandemic
NEW YORK (PIX11) -- Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown New York, the state is now ending its requirement for employers to provide paid sick leave for the infection.
COVID-19 quarantine leave will end on July 31, according to the state's website. The legislation, originally passed in March 2020, made it so that employees could get five to 14 days of job-protected paid leave to isolate due to the illness.
When the COVID-19 paid leave legislation initially took effect, New York City had at least 203,000 confirmed cases during the first three months of the pandemic, data from the CDC shows.
The city hit a high of 751 deaths within seven days on April 11, 2020 and 1,671 hospitalizations within seven days on April 5, 2021, according to the New York City Department of Health.
Following the expiration of the legislation, employees who contract COVID-19 or come into contact with an infected person can still use paid time off under state or city sick leave laws.
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.