Employee Handbook - New York

EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK — NEW YORK

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Purpose and Employment Framework
2. Equal Employment, Harassment Prevention, and Reporting
3. Pay, Timekeeping, and Work Schedules
4. Leave and Protected Absences
5. Workplace Standards
6. Corrective Action and Separation
7. Administration and Acknowledgment

1. PURPOSE AND EMPLOYMENT FRAMEWORK

1.1 Company and Effective Date

This Handbook states the current workplace policies of [COMPANY LEGAL NAME] (the “Company”) for employees working in New York. It is effective [__/__/____] and replaces prior handbook versions prospectively.

1.2 Handbook Status

This Handbook is not a contract for employment for a fixed term. Except where a signed agreement, collective bargaining agreement, or controlling law provides otherwise, the Company intends employment to be at will. Either the employee or the Company may end the relationship at any time, subject to applicable law.

This Handbook does not guarantee a disciplinary sequence, continued employment, a particular assignment, or a benefit not vested under a governing plan or agreement.

1.3 Policy Changes

The Company may revise policies prospectively in writing, subject to applicable law, earned wages, vested benefits, signed agreements, and collective bargaining agreements. Only [AUTHORIZED TITLE] may approve a Handbook revision.

2. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT, HARASSMENT PREVENTION, AND REPORTING

2.1 Equal Employment Opportunity

The Company prohibits unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. The New York State Human Rights Law covers every New York employer regardless of size. Employment decisions will not be based unlawfully on age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, citizenship or immigration status, disability, domestic-violence-victim status, familial status, marital status, predisposing genetic characteristics, pregnancy-related condition, protected arrest or conviction history, or another status protected by state, federal, or applicable local law.

Work-authorization and criminal-history decisions must be separately reviewed under applicable federal, state, and local law.

2.2 Accommodation

Applicants and employees may request accommodation from [HR/ACCOMMODATION CONTACT] for disability, pregnancy-related conditions including lactation, religious observance or practice, domestic-violence-related needs, or another legally protected reason. The Company will conduct a timely, individualized review; request only permitted information; and provide accommodation where required under the controlling standard.

2.3 Sexual-Harassment Prevention Policy and Training

The Company maintains a separate written sexual-harassment prevention policy and complaint form that meet or exceed N.Y. Labor Law § 201-g and the current state model standards. The policy applies to conduct involving employees and covered nonemployees, including conduct through remote-work and electronic channels.

Every employee must complete interactive sexual-harassment prevention training annually. The Company will distribute the required policy and training materials in the manner and languages required by law. New York City and other local requirements must be added where applicable.

2.4 Reporting and Non-Retaliation

Report discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage concerns, leave interference, safety issues, or other suspected violations to any of the following:

• [SUPERVISOR]
• [HR CONTACT]
• [ALTERNATE CONTACT OUTSIDE THE REPORTING CHAIN]

Reports may be oral or written. The Company will review reports promptly, preserve confidentiality to the extent practicable, prohibit retaliation, and take action based on the findings. Internal reporting does not require an employee to waive or delay a protected agency contact, charge, testimony, emergency request, or legal remedy.

3. PAY, TIMEKEEPING, AND WORK SCHEDULES

3.1 Classification and Workweek

Employees are classified as [FULL-TIME / PART-TIME / TEMPORARY] and [EXEMPT / NONEXEMPT] under applicable law. The fixed workweek begins [DAY/TIME] and ends [DAY/TIME]. Classification labels do not override wage-and-hour law.

3.2 Minimum Wage and Overtime

For work performed from January 1 through December 31, 2026, the general New York minimum wage is:

Different wage orders, credits, rates, and rules may apply to hospitality, tipped, fast-food, farm, home-care, building-service, and other workers. Payroll must confirm the employee's work location and occupational rule, and must apply any higher local or federal requirement.

Unless an exemption or special rule applies, covered nonexempt employees receive one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over forty in a workweek. Advance approval may be required, but all work the Company requires or permits must be recorded and paid.

3.3 Timekeeping and Off-the-Clock Work

Nonexempt employees must accurately record all work, including required preparation, closing, meetings, training, remote work, and work outside the scheduled shift. Off-the-clock work is prohibited. Employees must report an error to [PAYROLL CONTACT]; a good-faith report will not result in retaliation.

3.4 Hiring Notice, Paydays, Statements, and Deductions

The Company provides the written hiring notice required by N.Y. Labor Law § 195(1), including rates of pay, any overtime rate, pay basis, regular payday, employer identity and contact information, and claimed allowances. The notice will be provided in English and in the employee's primary language when the Department of Labor offers a translation.

Pay frequency depends on the employee's statutory category. Manual workers generally must be paid weekly unless a statutory exception or Commissioner authorization applies. Clerical and other workers generally must be paid at least twice each month, and commission salespersons are governed by written compensation terms and statutory timing. The regular payday is [DAY / SCHEDULE].

Each payday, the Company provides the wage statement required by N.Y. Labor Law § 195(3). Wages will be withheld or deducted only as required or permitted by law.

3.5 Meal Periods

Meal periods are scheduled under N.Y. Labor Law § 162 and any applicable Department of Labor permit or industry rule. The employee's schedule, shift timing, and occupation determine the required period. Employees must be fully relieved of duties during an unpaid meal period; required or permitted work must be reported.

3.6 Equal Pay and Wage Discussions

The Company prohibits unlawful pay differentials. Compensation decisions will follow N.Y. Labor Law § 194, including its substantially-similar-work standard and permitted bona fide factors.

Employees may inquire about, discuss, or disclose wages as protected by § 194(4). Any written time, place, or manner limits must be reasonable and may not prohibit protected wage discussion or disclosure.

4. LEAVE AND PROTECTED ABSENCES

4.1 New York Sick and Safe Leave

Covered private-sector employees accrue at least one hour of sick leave for every thirty hours worked unless the Company lawfully frontloads the full annual amount. The annual entitlement depends on employer size and, for the smallest employers, prior-year net income:

Leave may be used on oral or written request for the employee's or a covered family member's illness, injury, health condition, diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventive care, and for the safe-leave reasons listed in N.Y. Labor Law § 196-b. The Company will not require disclosure of confidential health or protected safe-leave information as a condition of leave.

Unused sick leave carries over. The Company may limit annual use to forty or fifty-six hours according to employer size. The Company's minimum use increment is [____] hours, not to exceed four hours. Protected use will not result in retaliation, and restoration follows § 196-b.

4.2 Paid Prenatal Personal Leave

Paid prenatal personal leave is a separate benefit in addition to sick leave. Every private-sector employee receives twenty hours during each applicable fifty-two-week period for health-care services received during or related to the employee's pregnancy, including physical examinations, procedures, monitoring, testing, pregnancy-related discussions with a provider, fertility treatment, and end-of-pregnancy care.

Leave is available in hourly increments at the employee's regular rate or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater. The Company will not require medical records or confidential health details as a condition of use. Unused hours do not carry over and are not paid out at separation.

4.3 New York Paid Family Leave

Eligible employees may receive up to twelve weeks of job-protected Paid Family Leave for bonding with a new child, caring for a qualifying family member with a serious health condition, or assisting with a qualifying military deployment. In 2026, the benefit is sixty-seven percent of the employee's average weekly wage, capped at sixty-seven percent of the New York State Average Weekly Wage; the published maximum weekly benefit is $1,228.53.

Eligibility, notice, certification, payroll deductions, intermittent full-day use, health coverage, restoration, and coordination with disability benefits, FMLA, Company leave, and collective bargaining agreements are administered through the separate Paid Family Leave procedure and current Workers' Compensation Board materials.

4.4 Lactation Breaks and Space

For up to three years following childbirth, the Company provides a paid thirty-minute break each time an employee has a reasonable need to express breast milk. Existing paid break or meal time may be used for time beyond thirty minutes.

On request, the Company provides a compliant private location that is not a restroom or toilet stall, with the features required by N.Y. Labor Law § 206-c. If workplace refrigeration is available, it will be made available for expressed milk. The Company provides the state-required written policy upon hire, annually, and when an employee returns after childbirth, and responds to a space request within no more than five business days.

4.5 Voting Leave

An employee who lacks four consecutive nonworking hours while polls are open may take enough working time to vote, with up to two hours without loss of pay. The Company may designate leave at the beginning or end of the shift unless otherwise agreed.

An employee needing working time to vote must notify [CONTACT] not more than ten and not fewer than two working days before the election. The Company posts the statutory notice at least ten working days before each election through the close of polls.

4.6 Jury Service

The Company will not discharge or penalize an employee who gives notice before jury service and is absent because of that service. An employer with more than ten employees may not withhold the first seventy-two dollars of the employee's daily wages during the first three days of jury service under N.Y. Judiciary Law § 519. Any additional paid or unpaid jury leave is [COMPANY POLICY].

4.7 Bone-Marrow and Blood Donation

Where N.Y. Labor Law §§ 202-a and 202-j apply, employees averaging at least twenty hours per week at a site of an employer with at least twenty employees receive:

• physician-determined bone-marrow donation leave, up to twenty-four work hours unless the Company agrees to more; and
• either up to three hours of unpaid blood-donation leave in a twelve-month period or the Company's lawful alternative of at least two work-hour donation opportunities per year without use of accumulated leave.

Permitted notice and verification procedures apply. Retaliation for requesting or using covered donor leave is prohibited.

4.8 Other Leave and Local Overlays

The Company separately administers federal FMLA, military service and reemployment, disability accommodation, domestic-violence accommodation, workers' compensation, bereavement, and Company leave where applicable. New York City, Westchester County, and other local requirements may provide additional or greater rights and must be added for the employee's work location.

5. WORKPLACE STANDARDS

5.1 Attendance, Safety, and Conduct

Employees must report as scheduled, follow lawful safety and work rules, accurately maintain records, protect Company and customer property, and avoid dishonesty, threats, violence, unlawful harassment, and material conflicts of interest. Call-in procedures are [METHOD / CONTACT / TIMING], subject to protected leave and accommodation rules.

5.2 Confidential Information and Protected Activity

Employees must protect trade secrets and legitimately confidential business information. This policy does not prohibit protected reports to government agencies, lawful whistleblowing, discussion of wages or working conditions where protected, participation in an investigation, consultation with counsel, or other activity protected by law.

The Company will not retaliate because an employee engages in activity protected by N.Y. Labor Law § 740 or another controlling whistleblower law. Reporting and notice procedures will be applied consistently with the statute's exceptions and will not be used to obstruct an emergency report, protected agency contact, testimony, or investigation.

5.3 Reproductive Health Decisions

N.Y. Labor Law § 203-e protects an employee's and dependent's reproductive-health decision making. The Company will not access an employee's personal information about those decisions without the employee's prior informed affirmative written consent. It will not discriminate or retaliate because of a decision to use or access a particular drug, device, or medical service, or require an employee to waive the right to make the employee's own reproductive-health-care decisions.

Section 203-e permits an employee to bring a civil action and authorizes the court to award the remedies listed in the statute, which may include damages, back pay, benefits, reasonable attorney's fees and costs to a prevailing plaintiff, injunctive relief, reinstatement, and statutory liquidated damages subject to the statute's good-faith defense. Report a concern to [HR / ALTERNATE CONTACT]. Internal reporting is not required before an employee exercises a protected legal right.

5.4 Lawful Off-Duty Activity

Employment decisions will comply with N.Y. Labor Law § 201-d, including its protections and exceptions for specified lawful political activities, legal use of consumable products, legal recreational activities outside work hours and off Company premises, union activity, and protected refusals to attend certain employer-sponsored meetings or communications concerning political or religious matters.

Nothing in this policy permits impairment at work, unsafe conduct, misuse of Company property, unlawful conduct, or conduct falling within a statutory exception. Any proposed action based on off-duty cannabis use or another protected activity must be reviewed by [HR/LEGAL].

5.5 Technology and Electronic Monitoring

Company systems are for authorized use under the separate [INFORMATION SECURITY / ACCEPTABLE USE] policy. Where the Company monitors or intercepts employee telephone conversations or transmissions, electronic mail or transmissions, or internet access or usage by an electronic device or system, it will provide the written notice, new-hire acknowledgment, and conspicuous posting required by N.Y. Civil Rights Law § 52-c (second enactment).

Monitoring must be approved and implemented consistently with applicable privacy, labor, and communications law. This policy does not create consent to monitoring that controlling law prohibits.

5.6 Separate Agreements

Arbitration, restrictive covenants, invention assignment, confidentiality obligations intended to survive employment, and other binding terms must be placed in separately reviewed agreements. They are not created by this Handbook.

6. CORRECTIVE ACTION AND SEPARATION

6.1 Corrective Action

Depending on the circumstances, the Company may use coaching, verbal warning, written warning, final warning, suspension, reassignment, or discharge. It may select or skip steps. This discretionary framework is not a promise of progressive discipline and does not create a notice-and-cure right.

6.2 Final Pay

When employment ends because of discharge, resignation, or another separation, earned wages will be paid no later than the regular payday for the pay period in which the separation occurred. If requested by the employee, wages due upon termination will be mailed as provided by N.Y. Labor Law § 191(3).

Vacation, bonuses, commissions, expenses, and other compensation are handled under the governing written policy, plan, agreement, and applicable law. The Company will not make an unauthorized deduction or condition earned-wage payment on signing a release.

6.3 Return of Property

Employees must return Company property, records, credentials, and equipment by [METHOD / DEADLINE]. Disputed property will be addressed separately from wage payment.

7. ADMINISTRATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

7.1 Conflicts

If this Handbook conflicts with controlling law, a benefit plan, a signed agreement, or a collective bargaining agreement, the controlling authority governs. Contact [HR/LEGAL] before applying a policy to an unusual coverage, leave, wage, or accommodation question.

7.2 No Risk-Shifting Terms

This Handbook does not impose employee indemnity, a damages cap, attorney-fee shifting, an exclusive forum, arbitration, a jury waiver, a restrictive covenant, a pre-claim notice-and-cure period, or force-majeure relief from wage, leave, safety, or insurance obligations.

EMPLOYEE ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I acknowledge receipt of the [COMPANY LEGAL NAME] Employee Handbook effective [__/__/____]. I understand that:

1. I am responsible for reading the Handbook and asking [HR CONTACT] about unclear policies.
2. The Handbook is not a contract for employment for a fixed term.
3. The Company may prospectively revise policies in writing, subject to applicable law and binding agreements.
4. The corrective-action framework is discretionary unless controlling law or an authorized agreement requires otherwise.
5. Nothing in the Handbook requires me to waive or delay protected reports, agency contacts, or remedies.

Employee Name: [________________________________]

Employee Signature: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Company Representative: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

OFFICIAL SOURCES AND IMPLEMENTATION REFERENCES

• New York State Division of Human Rights — Protected Characteristics
• New York State Division of Human Rights — Protected Places and Employer Coverage
• New York State — Sexual-Harassment Prevention Model Policy and Training
• New York State Senate — Executive Law § 292
• New York State Senate — Executive Law § 296
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 201-g
• New York State Department of Labor — Minimum Wage History
• New York State Department of Labor — Notice of Pay Rate
• New York State Department of Labor — Frequency of Pay
• New York State Department of Labor — Day of Rest and Meal Periods
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 191
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 194
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 195
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 652
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 196-b
• New York State Paid Family Leave — 2026
• New York State Senate — Workers' Compensation Law § 204
• New York State Senate — Workers' Compensation Law § 205
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 206-c
• New York State Senate — Election Law § 3-110
• New York State Senate — Judiciary Law § 519
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 202-a
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 202-j
• New York State Senate — Civil Rights Law § 52-c (second enactment)
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 201-d
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 203-e
• New York State Senate — Labor Law § 740
• U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA Overtime
• U.S. Department of Labor — FMLA