New York City employers will soon need to comply with major updates to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), which take effect on February 22, 2026. These amendments broaden when employees may use leave, introduce a new category of front-loaded unpaid time, align ESSTA with New York State’s paid prenatal leave requirement, and significantly scale back obligations under the New York’s Temporary Schedule Change Act.
Expanded Leave Entitlements
Under the revised law, covered employees will receive 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time, available immediately upon hire and at the start of each calendar year. This unpaid time is in addition to existing paid leave entitlements and does not carry over to the following year. Employers will be required to track and report paid and unpaid leave balances separately each pay period.
Importantly, employers must draw from an employee’s paid sick time first, unless the employee specifically requests to use unpaid sick time instead.
The updates also expand the permissible uses of safe and sick leave. Employees may now take time off for:
- Caring for a minor child or an expanded definition of a “care recipient.”
- Attending or preparing for legal proceedings or maintaining subsistence benefits or stable housing for themselves or a family member.
- Addressing needs related to workplace violence, including threats or incidents that occur at work.
- Responding to public disasters such as severe weather, fires, terrorist attached, or government-ordered closures and shelter-in-place directives.
Changes to the Temporary Schedule Change Act
The amendments largely remove the prior affirmative obligations imposed by the Temporary Schedule Change Act. While employers must still respond to employee requests for temporary schedule changes, automatic approval is no longer required. Instead, most qualifying “personal events” are now expected to be addressed through safe and sick leave.
Anti-retaliation protections for employees making schedule-related requests remain intact.
Takeaway
By February 22, 2026, NYC employers must be prepared to comply with significant changes to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act. These include providing 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick leave in addition to existing paid leave, offering up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave, expanding the allowable reasons for leave, and adjusting to the streamlined Temporary Schedule Change Act rules.