Sustaining Paid Sick Leave Efforts in NYC

In June 2013, New York City Council passed a law giving paid sick leave days to nearly a million of New York City’s workers after a significant grassroots advocacy effort led by Community Service Society (CSS) of New York. While this was a huge win that will positively affect many workers’ lives, CSS knows that its work is not done. Six months later, in an interview with NewPublicHealth, Nancy Rankin, vice president for policy, research and advocacy at CSS, explained, “We are continuing to work on this issue because we recognize that having a law pass is not the end of the story. We now need to do outreach to inform workers about their new rights and employers about their new requirements, because a new law requires compliance and it requires people to be aware of its provisions.”

In addition to the work to ensure proper implementation of the new law, Rankin and CSS are not willing to stop with the current legislation. As in any political compromise, the law did not gain access for all workers, so CSS plans to return to the table to complete the task.

To learn more about the work on CSS and the paid sick leave legislation, visit www.cssny.org

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Date added: March 26, 2014