Key Highlights

New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) adds 32 hours of frontloaded unpaid safe/sick time to its existing paid safe/sick time requirements for employers.
The ESSTA also expands the permissible uses for both types of leave under the Act to include scenarios tied to caregiving, housing or subsistence proceedings, public disasters and workplace violence.
Employers, however, will no longer be required to grant a set number of temporary schedule changes; employees, instead, will enjoy a protected right to request such changes.

What Is Changing on February 22, 2026?

New York City employers should prepare for significant changes to the City’s ESSTA taking effect February 22, 2026—joining changes to New York state laws affecting disparate impact liability and the use of “stay-or-pay” contracts. The amended ESSTA includes a new bank of 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick time, expanded permissible uses of safe/sick time and a scaling back of obligations under the City’s Temporary Schedule Change Act (TSCA).

1. Employers must provide 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick time in addition to paid ESSTA leave.

The ESSTA will require employers to provide employees, upon hire and on the first day of each calendar year, a minimum of 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick time that is immediately available for use. Employers will not, however, be required to carry over unused hours from this unpaid bank to the next calendar year. The Act further contemplates that when an employee needs time off for an ESSTA-covered purpose, the employer generally must provide paid safe/sick time first (if available), unless ESSTA paid time is unavailable or the employee specifically requests to use other leave (e.g., other PTO pursuant to an employer’s vacation policy).

One potential issue for employers lies in the Act’s text. It ties the unpaid bank to “upon hire” and “the first day of each calendar year.” With a February 22, 2026, effective date, it is not clear from the statute whether employers must make the unpaid bank available to current employees as of the effective date. Given the short time before the effective date, employers likely will have to make a decision on this point before any additional guidance from the City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection becomes available.

2. Employees may now use paid and unpaid safe/sick time for new “covered uses.”

ESSTA continues to allow leave for traditional illness/injury, preventive care and care of family members but now expands certain categories and adds new ones, including:

Sick Time Additions

Leave related to business closure or child school/childcare closure may now include closures tied to a public disaster—not just a public health emergency.
Instances in which a public official directs an employee to remain indoors or avoid travel during a public disaster that prevents an individual from reporting for work.

Safe Time Additions

Circumstances where the employee or a family member is the victim of workplace violence in addition to the existing domestic violence/sexual offense/stalking/human trafficking categories.
Certain instances of caregiving for minor children or other care recipients.
Legal proceedings or hearings related to subsistence benefits or housing and other related steps necessary to apply for, maintain, or restore benefits or shelter.

These expansions overlap with what NYC historically treated as “personal events” under the TSCA’s framework but now more expressly integrates the framework into the ESSTA.

3. The TSCA moves from “must grant” to “right to request” when it comes to temporary schedule requests.

Following its effective date, the amendment softens the temporary schedule change regime in the City. Employees remain protected from retaliation for requesting a temporary schedule change, but the law provides that an employer may grant or deny the request, must respond as soon as practicable and may propose an alternative change, which the employee is not required to accept.

Employers should keep in mind that independent obligations under federal, state and local accommodation laws remain unchanged, so some schedule adjustments may still be required as reasonable accommodations even where the TSCA request itself is discretionary.

Why This Matters

These amendments significantly expand the scope and administration of protected leave in New York City. By adding a new unpaid ESSTA leave bank, broadening the reasons that trigger protected absences, and shifting temporary schedule changes to a right-to-request framework, the City increases the risk of missteps in policy drafting, payroll administration and day-to-day management of leave requests. Employers should take time now to evaluate how these changes affect their existing leave, scheduling and reporting practices ahead of the February 22, 2026, effective date.

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