Amendments to New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”) will take effect on February 22, 2026. New York City employers should take note of the important changes and evaluate whether changes to policies and/or practices are required in order to comply with the new requirements.
ESSTA
Under ESSTA, employers must provide full- and part-time employees working in New York City with time off for certain health-related reasons (sick time) and safety-related reasons (safe time). Employers with 100 or more employees in New York City must provide up to 56 hours of paid safe and sick leave. Employers with between five and 99 employees in New York City must provide up to 40 hours of paid safe and sick leave. Employers with four or fewer employees in New York City must provide up to 40 hours of safe and sick leave, which may be paid or unpaid depending on the net income of the employer. This sick/safe leave accrues at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked by an employee.
Amendments to ESSTA
The notable amendments to ESSTA that take effect on February 22, 2026 are as follows:
- In addition to the safe/sick leave currently available under ESSTA, employers must now provide employees with a minimum of 32 additional hours of unpaid safe/sick leave that is immediately available for use upon hire or the first of each calendar year. These additional hours of unpaid safe/sick leave can only be used if the employee has not yet accrued enough safe/sick leave, has reached the employer’s annual cap on safe/sick leave, or has specifically requested to use this unpaid leave. Employers are not required to carry over unused hours to the following year, and they may set a reasonable daily minimum increment for use of up to four hours.
- In addition to the safe/sick leave currently available under ESSTA, employers must provide eligible employees 20 hours of paid prenatal leave in any 52-week period, and employees may use prenatal leave in one-hour increments.
- Sick time coverage now includes circumstances arising from public disasters—fire, explosion, terrorist attack, severe weather conditions, or other catastrophe that is declared a public emergency or disaster by the US President, New York Governor, or New York City Mayor.
- Safe time coverage now includes circumstances where:
- An employee’s family member has been the victim of workplace violence;
- An employee who qualifies as a caregiver is absent to provide care to a minor child or care recipient; and
- An employee initiates, attends, or prepares for a legal proceeding related to subsistence benefits or housing or takes actions necessary to apply for, maintain, or restore such benefits or housing on behalf of themselves, a family member, or a care recipient.
- With respect to employees covered by collective bargaining agreements, the amendments clarify that ESSTA does not apply to employees covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement unless the agreement provides superior or comparable benefits, and unpaid time off is not “comparable” to paid safe/sick time or paid prenatal leave.
- The amendments also modify New York City’s Temporary Schedule Change Law (“TSCL”), a law enacted in 2018 that allows employees two temporary schedule changes per year for covered personal events. The amendments to ESSTA eliminate TSCL’s two schedule changes for certain personal events, which are now covered under ESSTA’s safe time provision (care for a minor child or care recipient and actions related to subsistence benefits or housing). Employees remain permitted to request temporary schedule changes, but employers may deny the request and require employees to use ESSTA leave if available.
Private Right of Action
The 2024 amendment to ESSTA providing for a private right of action remains unchanged. As such, employees alleging a violation of ESSTA’s provisions may, within two years of the violation, commence a civil action for damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other relief as the court deems appropriate. An employee need not file a complaint with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) prior to filing a lawsuit against their employer (i.e., no exhaustion requirement exists). Employees may also elect to file a complaint with the DCWP, but the remedies available are much more limited.
Key Takeaways for Employers
- Employers should revise leave policies, handbooks, and new-hire materials to include the 32 hours of immediately available unpaid leave, its non-carry-over status, the minimum increment requirement, and clarify when accrued safe/sick time must be used instead. Employers should also make sure they have internal systems in place to track usage of the 32 unpaid hours of leave.
- Employers should update leave policies and handbooks to identify prenatal leave as a separate entitlement and explain eligibility, increments, notice, and request procedures.
- Employers should update leave policies and handbooks with the expanded reasons for using safe and sick time. It is important that employers with employees working in both New York City and elsewhere in New York State note that the amendments expand ESSTA’s scope beyond the New York State sick leave law. New York State’s covered reasons for using sick time are limited to an employee’s or their family member’s illness, injury, or health condition and diagnosis, care, treatment, or preventative care for such illness, injury, or condition.
- Employers must treat documentation from legal and social services providers, courts, government agencies, and school and care providers confirming the need for safe time as sufficient and must avoid demanding underlying details. Improperly rejecting documentation from these additional entities risks triggering statutory or civil penalties.
- We also recommend that employers train supervisors, human resources personnel, and leave administrators on the difference between ESSTA, which mandates that employers grant covered safe/sick time requests, and the amended TSCL, which gives employers the discretion to grant or deny employees’ requests for temporary schedule changes.
