Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EXPERT INSIGHTS—New York employment law updates in 2025 and beyond, (Mar 24, 2025)

By Honigman of Honigman

With 2025 in full swing, many employers are using this time to review their employment practices and update their employee handbooks. New York employers in particular have a lot to keep track of this year. Below, we break down the New York employment law updates to note for this year and the future.

Minimum Wage Increases

Like many other states, New York raised its minimum wage for hourly workers. The last increase took effect on January 1, 2025, with another set to happen on January 1, 2026, followed by a formula for potential continued annual bumps tracking inflation.

As of the first of this year, the minimum wage for hourly workers in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County is $16.50 per hour, and the rest of New York is set at a minimum of $15.50 per hour. New York employers should ensure that they are in compliance with these new minimums and prepare for the increases that are coming in 2026. As of January 1, 2026, the minimum wage for New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County will be $17.00 per hour and the rest of New York will have a minimum of $16.00 per hour. These increases do not apply to tipped service workers in the food and hospitality industries or to home healthcare workers.

Overtime Exemption Salary Threshold Increase

Recently planned federal increases in salary thresholds for overtime exemption were not implemented as a result of a court injunction (as discussed here). New York, however, has increased its state thresholds for certain employees to be exempt, making the New York salary threshold for exempt status eligibility higher than the federal threshold.

Like the minimum wage increases, these thresholds increased in January of 2025 and will increase again on January 1, 2026. As of this January, the minimum weekly salary requirement for exempt status is $1,237.50 per week in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County (annually, $64,350), and in the rest of the state the current minimum is $1,161.65 per week (annually, $60,405.80). Additional increases planned to take effect on January 1, 2026, will bring the weekly threshold to $1,275.00 ($66,300 per year) in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, and to $1,199.10 weekly ($62,353.20 per year) for the rest of New York.

Paid Prenatal Leave

Perhaps the most significant recent changes to New York employment law come in the form of paid prenatal leave. As discussed here, New York is the first state to require paid leave of this type. The newly amended New York law went into effect on January 1, 2025, and requires all private New York employers to provide employees with up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during any 52-week period, beginning on the date they first use the leave. This applies to all full and part time employees and is not given on an accrual basis - all eligible employees receive the benefit immediately. Leave time may be taken for healthcare received during, or related to, pregnancy for the covered employee. Covered services include physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring, testing, discussions with healthcare providers to ensure a healthy pregnancy, fertility treatments, and end of pregnancy care. Leave must be taken in hourly increments. This is a stand-alone benefit separate from other types of leave and does not have to be taken concurrently or in conjunction with any other leave.

Paid Lactation Breaks

This change came about in mid-2024 but is worth noting for New York employers who may be updating handbooks and policies. New York employers should ensure that employees are entitled to up to 30 minutes of break time for expressing breast milk in addition to any regularly paid breaks an employee may be eligible for. This break time is intended to be taken each time an employee needs to express breast milk, and employers are required to allow employees to take these breaks as often as they reasonably need to throughout the day.

Clean Slate Act

Another 2024 change is New York's Clean Slate Act, which took effect on November 16, 2024. The Act prohibits employers from inquiring about, and making employment decisions based on, certain sealed New York State convictions. Under the Clean Slate Act, certain convictions will be sealed automatically after a specified amount of time has passed since the individual was released from prison, or since the imposition of a sentence if no prison time was involved, provided that the individual has not re-offended. The Act specifies required conditions, but generally misdemeanor convictions will be sealed after 3 years, and felony convictions will be sealed after 8 years. This does not apply to non-New York convictions such as those from the federal or out of state systems. Employers must provide additional notices regarding criminal history information received from background checks, regardless of whether they are taking adverse action.

Retail Worker Safety Act

Effective on March 3, 2025, the Retail Worker Safety Act applies to both large and small New York retail employees. Employers with at least 10 employees are required to implement a written workplace violence prevention policy and conduct related employee training. Starting on January 1, 2027, employers with 500 or more retail employees nationwide will be required to provide panic buttons throughout New York worksites enabled to immediately contact law enforcement in the case of an emergency.

COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave Sunsets

Covid paid sick leave is coming to an end on July 31, 2025.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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