Payroll and Benefits Guide United States – New York
Last updated: Mar 03, 2026
Contribution
| Employer Payroll Contributions | |
| 2.1% – 9.9% | State Unemployment Insurance (SUI), applied on the first 12,800 USD of each employee’s wages.The rates are determined based on the employer’s experience with unemployment claims and contributions. The rates includes a 0.075% Reemployment Services Fund contribution. |
| 4.1% | State Unemployment Insurance – New Employer, applied on the first 12,800 USD of each employee’s wages. |
| 6.20% | Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) - Social Security, applied on salary up to 176,100 USD per year. |
| 1.45% | Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) – Medicare. An additional 0.9% should be withheld from employees earning above 200,000 USD per year. |
| 0.60% – 6.00% | Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), applied on salary up to 7,000 USD per year.
Employers who pay their state unemployment tax in full and on time are eligible for a 5.4% tax credit, reducing the FUTA rate to 0.6%. |
| 14.45% – 27.65% | Total Employment Cost |
| Employee Payroll Contributions | |
| 0.50% | Disability Insurance (DBL), employees can contribute up to 0.5% of their weekly wages, capped at $0.60 per week. |
| 6.20% | Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) - Social Security, applied on salary up to 176,100 USD per year. |
| 1.45% | Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) – Medicare.An additional 0.9% should be withheld from employees earning above 200,000 USD per year. |
| 8.15% – 9.05% | Total Employee Cost |
| State Employee Income Tax | Annual |
| State Income Tax – Single | |
| 4.00% | Up to 8,500 USD |
| 4.50% | 8,500 – 11,700 USD |
| 5.25% | 11,701 13,900 USD |
| 5.50% | 13,901 – 80,650 USD |
| 6.00% | 80,651 – 215,400 USD |
| 6.85% | 215,401 – 1,077,550 USD |
| 9.65% | 1,077,551 – 5,000,000 USD |
| 10.30% | 5,000,001 – 25,000,000 USD |
| 10.90% | Above 25,000,000 USD |
| Married taxpayers filing jointly | |
| 4.00% | Up to 17,150 USD |
| 4.50% | 17,151 – 23,600 USD |
| 5.25% | 23,601 – 27,900 USD |
| 5.85% | 27,901 – 161,550 USD |
| 6.25% | 161,551 – 323,200 USD |
| 6.85% | 323,201 – 2,155,350,00 USD |
| 9.65% | 2,155,351 – 5,000,000 USD |
| 10.30% | 5,000,001 – 25,000,000 USD |
| 10.90% | Above 25,000,00 USD |
| Standard Deduction and Personal Exemption | |
| Single | 8,000 USD |
| Married – Joint Filing | 16,050 USD |
| New York City – Additional Tax | |
| 3.078% – 3.876% | Residents of New York City are subject to additional city income taxes on top of the State tax. The applied rate depends on the income. |
| Federal Employee Income Tax | Annual |
| Federal Tax – Singles | |
| 10.00% | Up to 11,925 USD |
| 12.00% | 11,925 – 48,475 USD |
| 22.00% | 448,475 – 103,350 USD |
| 24.00% | 103,350 – 197,300 USD |
| 32.00% | 197,300 – 250,525 USD |
| 35.00% | 250,525 – 626,350 USD |
| 37.00% | Above 626,350 USD |
| Federal Tax – Married – Joint Filing | |
| 0.00% | Up to 23,850 USD |
| 12.00% | 23,850 – 96,950 USD |
| 22.00% | 96,950 – 206,700 USD |
| 24.00% | 206,700 – 394,600 USD |
| 32.00% | 394,600 – 501,050 USD |
| 35.00% | 501,050 – 751,600 USD |
| 37.00% | Above 751,600 USD |
| Federal Tax – Heads of Household | |
| 10.00% | Up to 17,000 USD |
| 12.00% | 17,000 – 64,850 USD |
| 22.00% | 64,850 – 103,350 USD |
| 24.00% | 103,350 – 197,300 USD |
| 32.00% | 197,300 – 250,500 USD |
| 35.00% | 250,500 – 626,350 USD |
| 37.00% | Above 626,350 USD |
| Standard Deduction and Personal Exemption | |
| 15,000 USD | Single |
| 30,000 USD | Married Filing Jointly |
| 22,500 USD | Head of Household |
Minimum Wage
General
The minimum wage in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County is 16.50 USD per hour.
In the rest of rest of New York State the minimum wage is $15.50 per hour.
The Federal minimum wage rate is 7.25 USD per hour.
Payroll
Payroll Cycle
In general, employees are paid either semi-monthly or monthly, with payment dates stipulated in the employment contract.
However, New York has several different payday interpretations linked to the type of work and seniority or professional status of the employee:
- Manual laborers are paid weekly and may not be paid later than seven days after the end of the pay cycle (with special approval from the state labor department, non-profit organizations may be able to pay manual laborers twice a month).
- Railroad employees are paid weekly and must be paid on a Thursday.
- Employees who work on commission must be paid at least once a month and paid by the last day of the following month.
- Personnel who work in an office or all other types of employees are generally paid twice a month. However, senior and professional employees may have their pay date set monthly.
13th Salary
There are no provisions in the law regarding 13th salaries.
Working Hours
General
A full-time work week is 40 hours or 8 hours per day.
Overtime
New York adheres to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and work in excess of 40 hours per week is considered overtime and paid at the rate of 150% of regular pay.
If an employee is scheduled to work on weekends or rest days, no additional payment is required. However, should an employer request an employee to work in exceptional circumstances on these days, then overtime is paid at the rate of 150% of the regular pay.
These hours must be linked to the type of work undertaken, e.g., regular employees earn 150% of the regular pay for work over 40 hours per week, live-in employees earn 150% of the regular pay for work over 44 hours per week, and farmers earn 150% of the regular pay for work over 60 hours during the working week or on a rest day.
Leave
Annual Leave (vacation)
New York does not have any state laws that govern the amount and payment of vacation time.
However, it is common for employers to choose to offer vacation leave, paid or unpaid, to their employees. This must comply with employment law and must be stipulated in collective bargaining agreements.
Public Holidays
Public holidays are not mandatory paid days off, but employers commonly allow workers to take federal holidays as paid days off.
Some companies might also agree to allow workers to take off state holidays; workers can find specific state holiday dates from their local government.
Usually when an agreed public holiday falls on a weekend, a day off in lieu is given on the Friday before or the Monday after the holiday.
| Date | Day | Holiday | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2026 | Thursday | New Year’s Day | Standard holiday |
| 19 January 2026 | Monday | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Standard holiday |
| 12 February 2026 | Thursday | Lincoln’s Birthday | |
| 16 February 2026 | Monday | Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day) | Standard holiday |
| 25 May 2026 | Monday | Memorial Day | Standard holiday |
| 19 June 2026 | Friday | Juneteenth National Independence Day | Standard holiday |
| 3 July 2026 | Friday | Independence Day (Observed) | Standard holiday |
| 7 September 2026 | Monday | Labor Day | Standard holiday |
| 12 October 2026 | Monday | Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day | Standard holiday |
| 3 November 2026 | Tuesday | Election Day | |
| 11 November 2026 | Wednesday | Veterans Day | Standard holiday |
| 26 November 2026 | Thursday | Thanksgiving Day | Standard holiday |
| 25 December 2026 | Friday | Christmas Day | Standard holiday |
Sick Days
Sick leave falls under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) which provides leave for an employee with a serious health condition that makes them unable to perform the essential functions of their job.
It is common for an employer to follow the FMLA which provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for certain family and medical reasons (maternity leave, serious illnesses, or if the employee needs to care for a spouse or child).
Employees are eligible for FMLA if they have worked for their employer for at least one year, completed a minimum of 1,250 hours over the past year, and worked at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
In addition to the FMLA, New York City and Westchester County have their own paid sick leave laws for employers with five or more employees. Employees who have a minimum of 12 months of employment or domestic workers who work more than 80 hours a year are entitled to 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. This is capped at a maximum of 40 hours per year.
For employers with less than five state employees, the laws state that the employees are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, which will run simultaneously with the FMLA leave. For non-state employees, there are no statutory laws on sick leave in New York. However, an employer may be obligated to follow the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Maternity Leave
Maternity leave falls under the FMLA (see Sick Leave) which allows a mother twelve working weeks of leave in any one year for a child’s birth and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth.
New York also offers short-term disability benefits, which an employee can use for the birth of a child. A mother may use this benefit for up to 26 weeks.
This benefit is paid at 50% of the employee’s average salary from the previous 8 weeks. This benefit is capped at 170 USD per week and cannot be used at the same time as FMLA leave.
Paternity Leave
Paternity leave falls under the FMLA (see Sick Leave). In addition to the FMLA, New York has additional paternity leave laws outlined in the New York Paid Family Leave Act (which also applies to adoption and fostering), entitling employees to up to 12 weeks of paid leave.
The leave can be taken at once or intermittently but must be taken in increments of full days. Employees are eligible for paid family leave after 26 weeks of employment or if they work at least 20 hours per week.
If an employee has worked less than 20 hours per week, they are entitled to take leave after they have worked 175 days.
The payment for this leave is made bi-weekly through the mother’s insurance carrier. This type of leave can also be permitted for parenting, to care for a family member with a severe health condition, or to handle certain matters arising from a family member’s active-duty deployment in the military.
Parental Leave
Parental leave falls under the FMLA (see Sick Leave), which allows for:
- Leave for the adoption or foster care of a child and care for the newly placed child within one year of placement
- Any qualifying necessity arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty”
Other Leave
Leave for the care of an employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a severe health condition falls under the FMLA (see Sick Leave).
Alternatively, an employee may take 26 working weeks of leave during a single one-year period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
Other leave under New York law includes:
- New York law requires all employers with more than ten employees to provide their full-time employees, with job-protected paid or unpaid leave for jury duty, as a witness in a case, responding to a subpoena, or acting as a plaintiff or defendant in the courts. The employer is to pay the first 40 USD of the employee’s regular daily wages for the first three days of jury service. An employer is not required to pay an employee for time spent serving on a jury in all instances. Employees must provide a copy of the jury summons to the employer as evidence of requirement.
- In addition to the federal law USERRA, New York law provides protection against discrimination for members of U.S. armed forces, reserves, National Guard, commissioned corps of the public health service, and any other category of persons designated by the president in a time of war or emergency. In New York, an employee may only take military spouse leave while the military service member is on leave from deployment. Employers with 20 or more employees that work more than 20 hours per week must grant their employees up to 10 days of unpaid leave if they are a spouse to a military service member who has been deployed during a period of military conflict.
PAID MATERNITY LEAVE (DAYS)
Termination
Termination Process
Except in mass dismissals or as provided for in an employment contract or a collective bargaining agreement, U.S. law does not impose a formal notice period to terminate an individual employment relationship, and employment is stipulated as “at will.”
This means that either the employer or the employee may end the employment relationship without giving either notice or reason, provided it is not illegal, notable discrimination on the grounds of a category protected by law, etc., and as per the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
The employment contracts of executives and other highly skilled individuals often incorporate a just cause termination clause which mandates that the employer may only terminate the employee for “cause” and lists the permissible grounds.
In such cases, the parties negotiate the foundations for a “just cause” termination.
Notice Period
In New York, most employees are employed at will — either party can terminate the employment relationship without notice.
An employer’s policy or employee contract governs whether earned or unused vacation is paid on separation.
Still, employers will generally pay an employee for unused vacation days, provided the employee gave some advanced notice of resignation. There is no official notice period. Still, in general practice, two weeks’ notice is a minimum requirement.
In mass dismissal cases the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) must be followed, and employers must give 60 days’ notice to impacted employees.
Severance Pay
Except as otherwise provided in an employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, employers are not required to pay severance. Employers who choose to offer severance need to have the provisions outlined in the employee’s contract and both parties must agree.
Many employers choose to provide severance payments linked to the employee’s length of employment. Most common in the state of New York is one week’s pay for every year of service.
Probation Period
No legal provision governs a formal trial/probation period. However, it is common practice for employers to set a performance evaluation after an initially stated period of employment of 90 days.
Minimal Statutory Termination Costs
Some states require PTO balances to be paid out during termination, also any bonuses or commissions that were promised in the employment contract
Immigration
Foreign nationals without permanent resident status or a work visa are not permitted to work in the United States.
An employer seeking to hire a foreign national may file a petition with the United States Department of Homeland Security/United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for an employment visa on behalf of the prospective employee.
If the petition is approved, the prospective employee must obtain a visa stamp from a United States embassy or consulate (Canadian citizens are exempt from this requirement).
To get a temporary U.S. work visa, an employer must file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
An approved petition must be part of the visa request. The types of visas include:
- H-1B – for applicants with a college degree hired to do specialized work. The visa is valid for three years and can be extended for an additional three years. The visa is connected to the employer that filed the petition. If there is a change of employer, the new employer must repeat the process. There are 65,000 H-1B visas available each year.
- H-1B1 – for applicants with a college degree from Chile and Singapore. The U.S. government grants up to 1,400 visas to Chilean citizens and 5,400 from Singapore each year.
- H-2A – for temporary or seasonal agriculture work. It is limited to citizens of qualified countries. Usually valid for up to 1 year and can be extended to a maximum of 3 years.
- H-2B – for temporary non-agricultural work. These visas are limited to citizens of qualified countries. Usually valid for up to 1 year and can be extended to a maximum of 3 years.
- L – for intercompany transfers (people transferred from a foreign company to a U.S. branch of the company.) The applicant must have been employed at the company for a year before the transfer and work in a managerial level position or higher with specialized knowledge.
- 0 – for people with extraordinary ability in science, arts, education, business, or athletics.
The standard procedure is to obtain a short-term work visa and then apply for an immigrant visa after the employee has started working in the United States.
For those seeking employment-based immigrant visas:
- E-1 – highest priority employment for those with extraordinary ability in science, arts, education, business, and athletics.
- E-2 – for those with advanced degrees or exceptional ability.
- E-3 – for skilled workers and professionals, as well as unskilled workers.
- E-4 – members of certain immigrant groups.
- E-5 – immigrant investors in U.S. companies (substantial investment).
Alternatively, an employer may sponsor a potential employee’s application for permanent resident status, referred to as a “green card,” if the employee can establish that the potential employee is a multinational executive/manager transferee, has unique skills, or has been offered a job in the United States.
The employer must have been unable to recruit a U.S. worker who meets the position’s minimum requirements.
All employers are obligated to verify that all individuals they employ are authorized to work in the United States.
VAT
General
New York has a State sales tax of 4%. Local governments can add up to 4.875% in additional taxes.
The total sales tax rate in New York City is 8.875%, which includes the 4% State sales tax, a 4.5% City sales tax and a 0.375% Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD) surcharge.
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Payroll and Benefits Guide
in United States – New York
What’s covered in this guide:
- Employer/employee contributions
- Minimum wage
- Working hours
- Visa requirements
And more...
Public Holidays Calendar
| Date | Day | Holiday | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 2026 | Thursday | New Year’s Day | Standard holiday |
| 19 January 2026 | Monday | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Standard holiday |
| 12 February 2026 | Thursday | Lincoln’s Birthday | |
| 16 February 2026 | Monday | Washington’s Birthday (Presidents’ Day) | Standard holiday |
| 25 May 2026 | Monday | Memorial Day | Standard holiday |
| 19 June 2026 | Friday | Juneteenth National Independence Day | Standard holiday |
| 3 July 2026 | Friday | Independence Day (Observed) | Standard holiday |
| 7 September 2026 | Monday | Labor Day | Standard holiday |
| 12 October 2026 | Monday | Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day | Standard holiday |
| 3 November 2026 | Tuesday | Election Day | |
| 11 November 2026 | Wednesday | Veterans Day | Standard holiday |
| 26 November 2026 | Thursday | Thanksgiving Day | Standard holiday |
| 25 December 2026 | Friday | Christmas Day | Standard holiday |
Questions & Answers