Attention New York City Employers: Significant Updates To The Earned Safe And Sick Time Act Take Effect On February 22, 2026

Employers in New York City should prepare for the implementation of several significant amendments to New York City's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act ("ESSTA"), which become effective on February 22, 2026.

SIGNIFICANT UPDATES TO NEW YORK CITY'S EARNED SAFE AND SICK TIME ACT

As referenced in our prior Employment Law Alert, an amendment to New York City's ESSTA, effective January 1, 2025, required that covered employers provide a separate bank of 20 hours of paid prenatal leave for employees. Paid prenatal leave is reflected in a revised Notice of Employee Rights: Safe and Sick Leave, issued by the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) on May 30, 2025.

Significant additional amendments to ESSTA will take effect on February 22, 2026. For one, New York City employers will be required to provide covered employees with 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time immediately upon hire and on the first day of each new calendar year thereafter, in addition to the paid safe and sick time already earned under the statute. When covered employees request time off for a purpose covered by ESSTA, employers must first grant the use of the employee's accrued, unused paid safe and sick time. Available unpaid safe and sick time will be applied if employees have not yet accrued, or have exhausted, their safe and sick time balance under ESSTA. Employers will also be required to notify employees each pay period, on earnings statements or other written documentation, of the amount of unpaid, as well as paid, earned safe and sick leave and paid prenatal leave accrued, used and available to them. Unpaid safe and sick time that is unused is not subject to carryover from year to year.

These amendments will also expand the basis for safe and sick time protected by ESSTA and provide additional circumstances under which safe and sick time may be used under ESSTA. Specifically, effective February 22, 2026, New York City employers:

• May apply a reasonable minimum usage increment, which shall not exceed four (4) hours per day for paid and unpaid safe and sick time of (1) one hour per day for paid prenatal leave under ESSTA;
• Must allow employees who are caregivers, defined as "a person who provides direct and ongoing care for a minor child or a care recipient," to use safe and sick time for that purpose;
• Must allow safe and sick time to be used to initiate, attend or prepare for a legal proceeding or hearing, or take necessary actions related to applying for, maintaining or reinstating, subsistence benefits or housing for the employee, the employee's family member, or the employee's care recipient;
• Must allow the employee to use safe and sick time to meet with or receive services from a legal or social services provider and to take other protective actions if the employee or a family member were victims of workplace violence; and
• Must allow safe and sick time to be used when a public disaster declared by the President, the Governor of New York State or the Mayor of New York City results in closure of the employee's place of business, the employee's need to care for a child whose school or childcare provider is closed or restricted in-person operations by order of a public official, or a direction by a public official to remain indoors or avoid travel, during a public disaster which prevents the employee from reporting to the employee's work location.

These amendments impact the interplay between ESSTA and the New York City Temporary Schedule Change Law ("TSCL"). Temporary schedule changes for personal events under the TSCL are now covered by ESSTA. Employees may still request temporary schedule changes, without fear of retaliation, but employers are no longer required to grant them. Employers must respond "as soon as practicable," within (14) fourteen days, if the request is in writing, and may propose an alternative temporary change.

New York City employers may waive ESSTA coverage in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) for their employees covered thereby. But such CBAs must provide for a superior or comparable paid or unpaid time off benefits for the covered employees in the form of leave, compensation, other employee benefits or some combination thereof. Under the amendments, "unpaid time off shall not be considered a comparable benefit for purposes of paid safe/sick time or paid prenatal leave under" ESSTA.

HERE IS WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO DO

• New York City employers should plan to update their safe and sick time policies, as set forth in employee handbooks and other documents and required notices, and train managers and Human Resources staff on the new requirements prior to the February 22, 2026, effective date.
• Employers must be prepared to ensure that their earnings statements or similar written payroll statements for New York City employees are updated to reflect the required paid and unpaid sick and safe time and paid prenatal leave information.
• Employers must also provide current and newly hired New York City employees with the updated DCWP Notice of Employee Rights: Safe and Sick Leave. The DCWP is currently in the process of preparing a new Notice reflecting the amendments described above.

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.