The Earned Sick Time Act on the Mayor’s Desk The Mayor Signing the Earned Sick Time Act Expansion
Dear Friend,
It’s a big day for hardworking New Yorkers. With spring in the air and crowds of excited supporters, A Better Balance stood with Mayor Bill de Blasio today as he signed into law a bill expanding the Earned Sick Time Act. Change has finally arrived for New York City workers who have had to risk losing a day’s pay—or even their jobs—just to care for themselves or family members when they are ill or injured. We couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate the end of winter and the start of a new season!
At today’s pre-signing press conference, we were honored when the Mayor thanked the “A Better Balance coalition” and noted our organization’s commitment to passing a paid sick time law in New York City. The original sponsor of the Earned Sick Time Act, former City Council Member and current Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, also thanked ABB and told the crowd that Sherry Leiwant (ABB Co-President) and Jared Make (ABB Senior Staff Attorney) “probably went to 1,000 meetings” during the four-year paid sick time campaign. We extend our deepest thanks to Mayor de Blasio, Borough President Brewer, City Council Speaker Mark-Viverito, and City Council Member Chin for their commitment to providing paid sick time to working families in New York City.
We are especially grateful to all of our supporters and partners who have encouraged and stood by us as we worked to pass the original version of the bill last year, and then to strengthen and expand it these past two months. When the law goes into effect on April 1, 2014, it will cover nearly 1.2 million workers who previously had no sick time and will ensure that 3.4 million workers in the private sector have a legal right to sick time.
As the warm weather rolls in, our work on paid sick time in New York City will also begin anew. We’ll be turning our focus to making the new law work for New Yorkers. We’ve created an outreach and education campaign for workers and businesses and will be assisting individual workers to help them enforce their rights. We need your help!
Check back on our website in early April for new resources designed to help workers and employers, including a hotline that will provide free legal assistance to workers.
Call us at 212-430-5982 if you have questions.
Thank you for helping to make this great day happen,
Be a Seed for Change 
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