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New York City offers one of the strongest safe and sick leave
benefits in the country. Its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA)
requires employers, depending on their size, to provide employees
working in New York City with 40 to 56 hours of paid sick leave for
a specific qualifying reason. The ESSTA has been amended several
times over the years to increase protections for New York City
workers, including in July 2025 to incorporate New York City’s
version of New York State’s paid prenatal leave requirements.

Employers should know that yet another change is set to take
effect in 2026. On October 25, 2025, the New York City Council once
again amended the ESSTA, primarily to: (1) increase the amount of
leave and qualifying reasons under the ESSTA; and (2) narrow
employer obligations under New York City’s Temporary Schedule
Change Law (TSCL) in response to the ESSTA’s expanded coverage.
These amendments go into effect on February 22,
2026, and significantly alter employers’ obligations
under both laws.

Unpaid Leave

In addition to paid sick leave, employers must provide 32
hours of unpaid leave to be used for any
qualifying reason under the ESSTA. Leave must be
front-loaded to employees at the start of each
calendar year and provided to new employees immediately upon hire.
Unlike paid leave, unpaid leave does not carry over into the
following year. Employees can impose a minimum usage increment of
up to four hours per day.

Importantly, an employer must provide paid leave before the
unpaid leave unless the employee requests otherwise. Pursuant to
the ESSTA’s recordkeeping requirements, employers must
separately track and report balances for both paid leave and unpaid
leave.

Broader Qualifying Reasons for Leave Under
ESSTA

The amendments expand the covered reasons for leave under the
ESSTA. Following its enactment in 2018, the TSCL required employers
to provide employees with two temporary schedule changes each year
for “personal events,” defined as care for a child, care
for a “care recipient,” attend a legal proceeding, or any
reason that would be a qualifying reason or leave under ESSTA.

Following its amendment, the ESSTA expands safe
time for the following qualifying reasons, with the new
additions bold and underlined below, and in doing so incorporates
qualifying reasons under TSCL:


when the employee or employee’s family member has been the
victim of domestic violence pursuant to subpision 34 of section 292
of the executive law, a family offense matter, sexual offense,
stalking, workplace violence, or human
trafficking:


to obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, rape
crisis center, or other shelter or services program for relief from
a family offense matter, sexual offense, stalking, or human
trafficking;

to participate in safety planning, temporarily or permanently
relocate, or take other actions to increase the safety of the
employee or employee’s family members from future family
offense matters, sexual offenses, stalking, or human
trafficking;

to meet with a legal or social service
provider to obtain information and advice on, and prepare for or
participate in any criminal or civil proceeding, including but not
limited to, matters related to a family offense matter, sexual
offense, stalking, human trafficking, custody, visitation,
matrimonial issues, orders of protection, immigration, housing,
or discrimination

to file a complaint or domestic incident report with law
enforcement;

to meet with a district attorney’s office;

to enroll children in a new school; or

to take other actions necessary to maintain, improve, or
restore the physical, psychological, or economic health or safety
of the employee or the employee’s family member or to protect
those who associate or work with the employee.

(b) when the employee is
a caregiver for a minor child or care recipient, to provide care to
the minor child or care recipient; or

(c) to initiate, attend,
or prepare for a legal proceeding or hearing related to subsistence
benefits or housing to which the employee, the employee’s
family member, or the employee’s care recipient is a party, or
to take actions necessary to apply for, maintain, or restore
subsistence benefits or shelter for the employee or their family
member or care recipient.

The amendments also expand sick time for
qualifying reasons, with the additions bold and underlined
below:


such employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or
health condition, or need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment
of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or
need for preventive medical care;

care of a family member who needs medical diagnosis, care, or
treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health
condition, or who needs preventive medical care; or

closure of such employee’s place of business by order of a
public official due to a public health emergency, a
public disaster, or such employee’s need to
care for a child whose school or childcare provider closed
or restricted in-person operations by order
of public official due to a public health emergency or
public disaster; or

direction by a public official to remain indoors or
avoid travel during a public disaster which prevents such employee
from reporting to their work location.

NYC’s Temporary Schedule Change Law
Amendments

The amendments also reduce employer obligations under TSCL. Once
this amendment becomes effective on February 22, 2026, employers
will no longer be required to approve requests by employees for
temporary schedule changes. Instead, an employer may accept the
request, deny the request, or may propose an alternative temporary
change, so long as the employee is not required to accept the
employer-proposed alternative temporary change. Importantly,
employers must respond to TSCL requests as soon as practicable, but
not less than 14 days after a request is made in writing.

Codifications to Paid Prenatal Leave

New York City’s amendments also codify New York State’s
paid prenatal leave requirements into the
ESSTA. Since January 1, 2025, New York State has required employers
to provide 20 hours each year of paid time off from work for doctor
appointments, medical procedures, or other types of prenatal care.
Prenatal leave is in addition to the 40 or 56 hours of paid safe
and sick leave, and, effective February 22, 2026, 32 hours of
unpaid safe and sick leave that employees will be entitled to.

Furthermore, employers can set a minimum usage increment of one
hour per day for paid prenatal leave. The ESSTA also expressly
states that employers will be subject to penalties for violations,
including civil penalties and other forms of equitable relief.

Collective Bargaining Agreements

The recent amendments provide that the requirements under the
ESSTA will not apply to employees covered by a collective
bargaining agreement so long as the agreement expressly waives the
ESSTA and provides “superior or comparable benefits” to
the employees such as paid or unpaid time off. However, unpaid time
off is not considered a “comparable benefit” for prenatal
leave or paid safe and sick time.

The Bottom Line

Come February 2026, employers should be aware of the amendments
to the ESSTA and TSCL as these expansions will change obligations
for employers. Employers with employees in New York City should
revise their handbook policies to align with these changes and
ensure human resources and supervisors are up-to-speed on these new
policies and procedures.

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.