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To improve cancer outcomes for patients and reduce health care costs overall, ACS CAN has launched a campaign to expand access to paid time off for cancer screening in New York City.
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New Yorkers Need Paid Time Off For Cancer Screening
Every year in New York City, more than 12,000 people are diagnosed with breast, cervical, lung, or colon cancer. These cancers can be found early or prevented through screening tests. Screening can find cancers early when they may be easier to treat or even prevented in some cases.
Why Is Early Detection So Important
Finding cancer early can save lives, as treatment is most likely to be successful. The difference between an early stage or late-stage cancer diagnosis can be life or death. For example, the 5-year survival rate for early-stage colon cancer is over 90%, as opposed to a late-stage diagnosis where the survival rate is only 13%. Detecting and treating cancer when it is at a late stage is also more costly.
Unfortunately, many New Yorkers are not getting their recommended cancer screening for reasons such as:
- They do not have enough sick time.
- Appointments are only available during traditional office hours, and they are not able to leave work; and/or
- They do not have time to miss work/employment, afraid to use sick time for preventative care.
What Is a Paid Time Off Benefit for Cancer Screenings?
Like sick, vacation, or personal leave, paid time off (PTO) for cancer screenings can help employees be up to date with their recommended screenings for cancers such as breast, cervical, and colorectal.
In New York City (and statewide) public employees are already provided with four hours of paid time off for any cancer screenings. This time off for cancer screening benefit is in addition to any sick, vacation, or other personal leave that an employee receives.
A specific paid time off benefit for preventative medical care like cancer screening is important because it alleviates a significant barrier to cancer screenings. It ensures that employees do not have to choose between potentially life-saving screening and other immediate needs like a routine doctor’s visit or taking care of a sick child. In fact, employees with this benefit are more likely to get screened for cancer than employees without paid time off.
Furthermore, a recent study by the American Cancer Society found that people living in racially and economically segregated neighborhoods in New York City were more likely to be diagnosed with advanced-stage breast and cervical cancer. Ensuring that most employees in New York City can take a paid leave of absence for cancer screening will remove an important barrier to routine screening for many New Yorkers from underserved communities.
Benefit to Employers
In addition, employees getting cancer screenings may reduce health care costs related to cancer. In fact, cancer is one of the top five most costly diseases in the United States: it leads to substantial work loss, number of workdays lost, and absenteeism costs. Cancer is estimated to cost a business more than $1,600 in lost productivity per year for each employee diagnosed.
Public Support For Paid Leave For Cancer Screenings
Nearly 90% of NY adults support a policy that would require employers to offer employees paid leave for cancer screenings.
New York City Council Paid Time Off For Cancer Screening (Intro.1369-2025)
New York City Council member Lynn Shulman has introduced legislation that will require all private employers with a staff of five or more to grant employees paid time off—up to five hours annually—for preventative medical care, including doctor-recommend screening, ensuring that fear of wage or job loss does not serve as a barrier to workers’ ability to prevent, detect and ultimately survive cancer.
ACS CAN supports Intro 1369-2025 because it will ensure that most New Yorkers will never have to choose between taking time off for cancer screening, and their paycheck.
Send a message to city leaders in support of ACS CAN's 2026 legislative priorities, including paid time off for cancer screening,
Intro 1369-2025 Sponsors as of 12.15.25
Lynn C. Schulman, Oswald J. Feliz, Justin L. Brannan, Shahana K. Hanif, Chi A. Ossé, Yusef Salaam, Shekar Krishnan, Farah N. Louis, Alexa Avilés, Linda Lee
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Share your Story
A patient's story is the most impactful way to convey the importance of time off for cancer screening. Do you have a story to share? Did your employer provide you paid time off for cancer screening? Did a lack of access to paid time off for cancer screening impact your ability to get care? We want to hear from you. Contact [email protected].