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:
a) when the employee or employee’s family member has been the victim of domestic violence pursuant to subdivision 34 of section 292 of the executive law, a family offense matter, sexual offense, stalking, workplace violence, or human trafficking:
(1) 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;
(2) 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;
(3) 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
(4) to file a complaint or domestic incident report with law enforcement;
(5) to meet with a district attorney’s office;
(6) to enroll children in a new school; or
(7) 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:
a) 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;
b) 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
c) 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
d) 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.