As most New York City employers know by now, beginning January
1, 2016, the New York Mass Transit Benefits Law (the
"ordinance") requires employers with twenty or more
full-time employees working in New York City to offer their
full-time employees the opportunity to elect pre-tax salary
reduction to purchase "qualified transportation fringe
benefits" – other than qualified parking – as
permitted under the Internal Revenue Code ("Code").
This includes transit passes (e.g., MetroCard), rail
commuting tickets, bus tickets, and vouchers (i.e.,
TransitChek) that can be exchanged for tickets and fare cards. An
employer can provide reimbursement of substantiated bicycle
commuting expenses as well. Other than that, cash reimbursements by
the employer are subject to complicated requirements, and will not
be permitted in most situations; for example, reimbursing the cost
of a MetroCard purchased by the employee would not be
permitted. For purposes of the twenty-employee
