New York City employers should be prepared to provide expanded sick/safe time benefits in the new year. On September 25, 2025, the New York City Council approved a bill (the "Bill") that, if enacted, will broaden entitlements under the city's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act ("ESSTA"). The Bill now awaits Mayor Adams' signature. If signed, the law will become effective 120 days later.
Current ESSTA Requirements
Employers with 99 or fewer employees must provide employees with up to 40 hours of sick/safe time per year, while employers with 100 or more employees must provide up to 56 hours. Leave accrues at a minimum rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. Except for employers with four or fewer employees and a net income under $1 million in the previous year, all leave taken under ESSTA must be paid.
Proposed Changes to ESSTA
Additional Reasons for Leave
In addition to using ESSTA leave for absences for illness, preventive care, care of a family member, or certain closures during a public health emergency, and/or as "safe time" for absences related to domestic violence, sexual offenses, stalking, or human trafficking, if the Bill is enacted, New York City employers will be obligated to provide sick/safe leave under the following circumstances:
- closure of the workplace, school, or childcare center by order of a public official due to a public disaster (defined to include events such as a fire, terrorist attack, or severe weather conditions);
- where a public official directs people to remain indoors or avoid travel during a public disaster;
- where an employee or their covered family member has been the victim of workplace violence (defined as "any act or threat of violence against an employee that occurs in a place of employment");
- absences for employees acting as caregivers to provide care to a minor child or a care recipient; and/or
- absences for attending or preparing for legal proceedings related to subsistence benefits or housing, or taking actions necessary to apply for, maintain, or restore such benefits for themselves, a family member, or a care recipient.
Supplementary Unpaid Leave
In addition to the existing paid sick/safe time benefits, the Bill would require employers to provide employees upon hire and on the first day of each calendar year with an additional 32 hours of unpaid sick/safe time. Any unused, unpaid sick/safe time would not carry over into the following calendar year. Significantly, the unpaid leave would not be used until an employee has exhausted any accrued but unused paid sick/safe time.
Paid Prenatal Leave
The Bill also includes a statutory entitlement to paid parental leave as an element of ESSTA. Specifically, employers are required to permit employees to take up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave on a rolling 52-week period, as described in our previous advisories. Importantly, the 20 hours of paid prenatal leave is in addition to the paid sick and safe time to which an employee is already entitled. Furthermore, although employers are permitted to set a minimum increment of four hours per day for the use of sick/safe time, the minimum increment for use of paid prenatal leave is one hour per day.
Temporary Schedule Change Act
Another goal of the amendment is to coordinate coverage under the ESSTA with an employee's rights under the NYC Temporary Schedule Change Act ("TSCA"). (Our prior advisory on the TSCA is here.) Currently, the TSCA allows employees to request up to two temporary schedule changes per year for "personal events." Since the personal events are now covered under the ESSTA, the TSCA would be eliminated. However, an employee may still request time off under the ESSTA for the "personal events" under the TSCA. Thus, the employee would still be protected from retaliation for requesting time off for such "personal events."
Takeaways
In the event Mayor Adams signs the Bill into law:
- NYC employers should review and update their leave policies to reflect the new requirements and to remove any policies related to the TSCA.
- NYC employers should train managers on the new law so that they may be able to handle requests by employees for leave.
DWT will continue to monitor this Bill and provide further updates as they arise. Please feel free to contact a member of DWT's employment services group if you have any questions about how this may impact your company.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
