New York Sick Leave Calculator

What This Calculator Estimates

• Sick leave added from user-entered hours and accrual divisor or from a user-entered frontloaded amount.
• An available-hour and workday estimate after existing time, an optional cap, and used sick leave are entered.

What This Calculator Does Not Determine

• It does not decide legal coverage, whether leave is paid or unpaid, when leave may be used, whether an absence qualifies, or whether a policy complies with state or local law.
• It does not infer employer size, net income, local coverage, annual-use limits, carryover treatment, pay rate, or payout rights.

How the New York sick leave calculator works

Choose an hours-worked accrual estimate or enter a frontloaded amount actually provided by the employer. The default accrual divisor is 30, which represents one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

The calculator adds the selected method amount to sick leave already available, limits newly credited time only if you enter an optional policy balance cap, subtracts used time, and converts the result using your workday length. It does not choose a legal cap or annual-use limit.

How to estimate NY sick time accrual

Start with the number of hours worked during the period you are reviewing. Divide those hours by the accrual divisor. If you use the default divisor of 30, 300 hours worked would estimate 10 newly accrued sick leave hours.

Next, add any existing sick leave balance that was already available at the start of the period. Apply an optional balance cap only if it is confirmed, then subtract sick leave already used. The remaining amount is the calculator's estimated available sick leave.

What 1 hour per 30 hours worked means

The phrase 1 hour per 30 hours worked means the accrual estimate grows as work hours accumulate. For every 30 hours worked, the estimate adds one sick leave hour. At 60 hours worked, the estimate adds two hours.

This calculator uses that assumption by default because it is a common New York sick leave reference point. You should still verify current state guidance, city or local rules, employer size, employer policy, and payroll records before relying on the result.

Frontloaded New York Sick Leave

New York's official statewide guidance describes an alternative system in which an employer may provide the required amount at the beginning of the applicable year instead of relying only on continuing accrual. The amount can depend on employer size and other facts.

Use frontloaded mode only with the amount actually made available in the records you are reviewing. The calculator cannot decide whether the amount satisfies state or local requirements or whether additional accrual or carryover applies.

Existing sick leave vs newly accrued sick leave

Existing sick leave is the amount already available before the new period you are estimating. Newly accrued sick leave is the additional amount estimated from hours worked during the period entered into the calculator.

Keeping those numbers separate helps you review the result. If your employer's portal already shows available sick leave, enter that as existing leave only when you are adding new accrual from a later period.

Sick leave vs PTO vs vacation in New York

Sick leave, PTO, and vacation can use similar hour math, but they may have different policy and legal treatment. Sick leave is usually tied to illness, safety, caregiving, or covered reasons, while vacation and PTO may follow different employer policy rules.

Do not assume unused sick leave is treated like vacation payout or general PTO payout. If you are leaving a job, review the written policy and current New York guidance before assuming sick leave, PTO, or vacation will be handled the same way.

Why employer size, policy, and local rules may matter

New York's statewide page describes different annual amounts depending on employer size and, for the smallest employers, prior-year net income. It also distinguishes paid and unpaid leave. A simple calculator cannot evaluate those classifications.

Use this page to estimate the hour math, then compare the answer with your employer handbook, HR portal, pay records, official state resources, and any local guidance that may apply to your workplace.

New York Statewide Amounts by Employer Size

The official statewide page reviewed on July 28, 2026 describes the following general annual amounts. These categories do not resolve local-law coverage, collective bargaining terms, employee classification, or individual disputes.

• 100 or more employees: up to 56 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.
• 5 to 99 employees: up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.
• 4 or fewer employees with prior-year net income above $1 million: up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per calendar year.
• 4 or fewer employees with prior-year net income of $1 million or less: up to 40 hours of unpaid sick leave per calendar year.

Balance Caps and Annual-Use Limits Are Not the Same

A balance cap limits the amount held in a leave bank, while an annual-use limit restricts how much time may be used during a year. Carryover can make a recorded balance larger than the amount available for use in a particular year.

The optional cap field performs only the arithmetic limit you enter. Do not enter 40 or 56 automatically without confirming what that number means for the employer, policy, and location you are reviewing.

Example New York sick leave calculation

Assume an employee worked 300 hours, uses the default divisor of 30, already has 6 sick leave hours available, used 4 sick leave hours, and uses an 8-hour workday. Newly accrued sick leave is 300 divided by 30, or 10 hours.

Estimated available sick leave is 6 existing hours plus 10 newly accrued hours minus 4 used hours, which equals 12 hours. Dividing 12 by an 8-hour workday gives an estimated 1.5 sick days.

What to check with your employer

Check the sick leave policy, HR portal balance, pay records, timekeeping records, accrual dates, usage rules, carryover rules, employer size, local addenda, and any written HR response about sick leave.

If the numbers do not match, ask which period the balance covers, whether recent hours have posted, whether used sick time has been deducted, and whether local or employer-specific rules affect the balance.

Calculator Estimate vs New York Sick Leave Law

This calculator does not decide whether a particular absence qualifies, whether leave must be paid, whether an employer policy is compliant, whether a city rule applies, or whether unused sick leave is payable at separation.

It also does not store your inputs or connect to employer payroll systems. Treat the result as a private planning estimate and verify important questions with official sources or a qualified professional.

Official New York Sources

These official New York materials were reopened on July 28, 2026 for the statewide arithmetic and context summarized on this page. Local laws, collective bargaining terms, and individual coverage still require separate verification.

• New York State - New York Paid Sick Leave
• New York State - Paid Sick Leave General Fact Sheet