Paw & Order: New York’s Bid to Let Workers Use Sick Leave for Vet Visits
New York lawmakers are sniffing around a simple idea with a big bark: let employees use the paid sick time they already earn to take a sick pet to the vet. Assembly Bill A00791, the “Sick Leave for Pets Care Act,” would amend the state’s labor law so that “covered animals” — service animals and pets kept primarily for companionship, in compliance with the law — join the list of valid reasons for tapping into paid sick leave. In short, Fluffy and Fido would sit just one paw-print below “family member” when it comes to who’s worth missing work for. It’s a move from human to humane without asking employers to cough up new days off — just a new, pet-friendly reason to use existing hours.
What the Bill Actually Does
The bill, introduced in the 2025–2026 General Assembly by Assemblymember Manny De Los Santos and nine Democratic co-sponsors, quietly tweaks Labor Law §196-b. It would permit paid sick leave “for the diagnosis, care, or treatment … or preventive care” of a worker’s covered animal, alongside the existing allowances for one’s own illness, caring for a family member, or addressing the consequences of domestic violence. If enacted, the change would take effect immediately. Supporters argue the logic is straightforward: workers already accrue sick leave; this just says a vet visit is a legitimate reason to use it.
Why This May Have (Four Strong) Legs
The case for the bill rests on a deep, and growing, bond between people and their pets. Depending on the survey, somewhere between two-thirds and seventy percent of U.S. households own a pet — a figure that translates to tens of millions of potential vet appointments, many of them inevitably falling during the workday. Veterinary care is not cheap, and for many, skipping it is neither humane nor, in the case of service animals, safe. Without flexibility, workers may face an impossible choice between tending to a beloved animal’s health and safeguarding their own paycheck. By folding pet care into the existing sick leave structure, New York would remove that dilemma without expanding the number of days an employee can take.
The Skeptics’ Bark
Not everyone is wagging their tail. Skeptics raise concerns about verification — how exactly is an employer to prove that Spot truly needed shots? New York’s current sick leave system doesn’t require extensive documentation for most human-focused uses, and adding it for pets could create an administrative hairball. Others worry about scope creep: if companion animals are covered, does that include reptiles? Parrots? The bill tries to head off such debates by defining “covered animal” narrowly, excluding unlawful or agricultural animals, but enforcement could still get messy. Employer groups also see a familiar pattern: another allowable use for leave, even if days don’t increase, means more scheduling headaches and less control over staffing.
Not Just a New York Idea
New York wouldn’t be venturing into completely uncharted territory. The New York City Council has already considered its own version, Int. 1089-2024, to let workers use their city-mandated Earned Safe and Sick Time for a covered animal’s care. Early drafts even floated the idea of limiting pet-care leave to three days, though the underlying premise matches the state proposal: same hours, more flexibility. In Illinois, lawmakers have taken a different tack. Senate Bill 1670 would amend the Family Bereavement Leave Act to allow up to one week of unpaid leave to grieve the death of a “covered companion animal.” While bereavement leave is not the same as a trip to the vet, it occupies the same policy lane: acknowledging that pets are family and that their loss or illness affects workers’ lives in tangible ways.
The International Paw-spective
Globally, the picture is equally varied. In Italy, a 2017 case made headlines when an academic at Rome’s La Sapienza University successfully argued for paid leave to care for her sick dog, a decision supported by the animal-rights group LAV. It wasn’t a statutory change, but it became a touchstone for advocates elsewhere. In Colombia, legislators have repeatedly proposed guaranteeing a few days of paid leave after a pet’s death — a recurring idea that has yet to be enacted but signals the cultural salience of the issue. Even in the United Kingdom, where no such leave exists in law, the topic surfaces regularly in public debate, with some employers voluntarily offering “pawternity” days for pet care or bereavement as part of their workplace culture.
The Bigger Labor Policy Picture
The broader labor-policy context matters here. New York’s paid sick leave rules already guarantee either 40 or 56 hours a year, depending on employer size. The pet-care provision wouldn’t add more time, only another permissible use. In this way, A00791 is more of an evolution than a revolution, aligning the law with the lived reality of most households without creating a new entitlement. The enforcement boundaries — limiting coverage to lawful pets, leaving documentation largely to the honor system — are meant to keep the measure manageable, though lawmakers could still tinker with caps or verification requirements as the bill moves forward.
Where This Could Go
If New York City’s measure passes first, it may provide Albany with a ready-made compliance playbook. If the state bill advances ahead of the city’s, it could establish a uniform statewide standard that subsumes local rules. Either way, the optics are interesting: voting against a bill that helps a guide dog get surgery or a family cat receive lifesaving treatment could be politically awkward, but defending it in the face of criticism about frivolity might be just as tricky.
For now, the Sick Leave for Pets Care Act sits in committee, waiting to see whether lawmakers decide it’s time to let the law off the leash. Whether you view it as compassionate modernization or a slippery slope to “bring your parakeet to the polls,” it’s a debate that shows even the smallest paws can leave a lasting mark on policy. And if you think this is all barking up the wrong tree, just remember: what’s good for the goose may someday be good for the gander — vet appointment and all.
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