Ten years after the city passed a Paid Sick Leave Act, some of the worst recent violators are major corporations and franchises like Starbucks, Shake Shack, Chipotle and Amazon, records obtained by THE CITY show.
Those are some of the companies slapped with fines since the start of 2023 for violating the law that requires businesses with five or more employees to offer at least five paid sick days a year, according to data obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request.
All told, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) issued 105 paid sick leave violations for $1.2 million fees in 2023, agency records show. Some 49 violations for $432,449 have been issued this year so far, according to the FOIL data.
The first fine for violations for failing to give five paid sick days is $500, jumping to $750 for a second violation and $1,000 for a third.
Some of the worst recent offenders are: Amazon with a $85,953 fine; White Castle got hit with a $64,134 penalty; and Panda Express with a $300,000 fine, records show.
Supporters of the law argued it made no sense for sick workers to handle food — or continue to show up at hospitals or other care facilities.
Amazon, the online retail giant, paid $136,000 in restitution to 273 workers, according to DCWP. The web megastore failed to provide some part-time and short-term workers with accrued sick leave at its Woodside, Queens DBKI location.
The Earned Sick Leave Act, signed into law by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014, has been a resounding success, according to Councilmember Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), the prime sponsor of the measure during her first stint in the City Council.
“Passing the law took four years of non-stop advocacy and coalition building,” Brewer said, noting she first introduced the legislation in 2009.
The law was a lifesaver for some during the pandemic, she added.
“God forbid if we hadn’t had it during the pandemic,” she said. “Because at least people had five days of paid work. It was so useful.”
Not everyone has supported the law.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn had blocked it from going forward for four years.
They argued it would unfairly burden small businesses during a time when the economy was already in a tailspin after 2008’s global financial collapse.
When Quinn finally allowed the legislation to move forward in 2013, Bloomberg vetoed it shortly afterwards. The Council overrode the veto.
When de Blasio took office in January 2014, he backed an expanded version of the law to include manufacturing workers, who were previously exempted. The new law also applied to all businesses with five or more employees. The previous legislation only applied to businesses with 15 or more staffers.
For years, Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of Partnership for New York City, a business umbrella group, opposed the legislation, arguing small businesses could not afford to comply.
An estimated 80% of companies were providing paid sick leave before the law was enacted, she told THE CITY.
“So it was at the margins that there was going to be an impact,” she said. “It was the chair in a nail salon or a barber shop. If there wasn’t a worker there, there would be no income.”
Wylde said many of the businesses she represents have informal arrangements where staff can get equivalent time off if necessary.
Overall, the sick leave rules have been accepted by businesses in the city, Wylde noted.
“It’s just part of the deal,” she said. “I don’t think it’s had major disruption, but that may be in part, for lack of enforcement.”
The paid sick leave law has been extremely effective for workers largely because of effective education campaigns and enforcement, said Sherry Leiwant, co-founder of A Better Balance, a legal advocacy organization that specializes in labor issues.
“That has really made a difference,” she told THE CITY.
It doesn’t always take a fine from the city to get action, she added.
Her organization has a helpline that fields calls from workers with paid sick leave complaints.
“Employers who aren’t aware of the law a lot of times after just a phone call from us, will turn around and say, ‘oh, okay, didn’t realize that,’ ” she said. “And people are able to benefit from just having the law on the books.”
Wrong Orders
The DCWP largely bases its probes on employee complaints.
The Starbucks cases were triggered by staffers at cafes on 7th Avenue in Park Slope and inside the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, according to the worker protection agency.
The investigations into those sites resulted in $7,200 in back pay for the two workers — $4,500 and $2,700, records show. One of the cases also included some Fair Workweek Law violations tied to unfair scheduling practices, the data reveals.
Under a separate city law passed in 2017, companies must give their staff schedules at least two weeks in advance or pay some type of bonus.
As for the paid sick leave violations, DCWP found that each of the locations failed to provide enough sick leave time.
Supervisors at those spots also did not properly maintain a written sick leave time policy as required by the law, the agency said.
Starbucks did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The work violations against the Seattle coffee giant come as former Starbucks founder Howard Schultz has vehemently opposed a wave of unionization at stores throughout the country.
Schultz has long argued that there’s no need to unionize because Starbucks is a model employer which offers exemplary pay and benefits.
Last August, Starbucks announced that Brian Niccol, who previously headed Chipotle Mexican Grill , was appointed the new chairman and CEO.
Meanwhile, Chipotle was the worst paid sick leave offender in the city since 2023, records show. The national restaurant chain was hit with three paid sick leave violations, the data reveals.
Under a separate city law passed in 2017, companies like Chipotle must give their staff schedules at least two weeks in advance or pay some type of bonus. Chipotle also violated that Fair Workweek rule and agreed to pay its estimated 13,000 affected employees $20 million.
In response, Scott Boatwright, the company’s “chief restaurant officer,” told the New York Times in 2022 that the firm had changed its policies to comply with the city laws.
Those fined since 2023 include some mom-and-pop restaurants and grocery stores. The DCWP redacted the names of individual company owners tied to those smaller outfits.
As for Shake Shack, the city investigation concluded that the restaurant unfairly fired an employee for “exercising rights under the law.” The burger joint also improperly reduced that staffer’s accrued sick time and failed to maintain a written policy, according to DCWP.
Shake Shack did not respond to an online message placed in its media request portal seeking comment.
The restaurant was ordered to pay the employee $6,000 and was hit with a $500 fine, records show.
Heal Thyself
It wasn’t just restaurants violating the law.
Tribeca Pediatrics failed to give their employees the proper amount of paid sick leave and retaliated against staff who complained, according to DCWP.
The practice — started by Dr. Michel Cohen — has 48 offices in New York City and surrounding areas.
DCWP slapped the medical franchise with a $1,000 fine, records show.
Tribeca Pediatrics “strongly disputes” that it failed to provide the proper amount of sick leave or that any staffer was retailed against.
“We have always been fully committed to the well-being of our team and have a longstanding policy of offering paid sick leave, which exceeds the requirements mandated by New York City,” Tribeca Pediatrics said in an emailed statement.
As for the fine, the healthcare provider added: “We are currently reviewing the matter internally and are committed to addressing any concerns raised by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to ensure full compliance with all applicable regulations.”
Some firms doing business with the government were also found guilty, the FOIL data reveals.
Allied Universal Security Services was hit with a $3,000 paid sick leave fine, records show.
The firm — currently the subject of two probes by the city’s Department of Investigations — provides security and fire watch at multiple New York City Housing developments. The MTA also uses Allied private security guards to block fare evasion.
An Allied Security spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Some of the other top business fined are: Champion Security, $32,300; Regional Care Network, $26,051; and Jimmy Jazz, $19,951, records show.
Brewer, who pushed for the legislation for years even as former Manhattan borough president, said she hasn’t heard a single complaint from a small business owner since the first iteration of the bill was passed a decade ago.
“It took us five years and it was hell,” she said, referring to the push to get the measure passed. “We had a press conference every week to convince people that it was needed.”
