Attention NYC Employers: Earned Safe and Sick Time Act Updates – Effective February 22, 2026

The New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”) requires covered employers to provide eligible employees with job-protected time off for specified health and safety needs, including their own and those of certain family members.

Significant amendments to the ESSTA will take effect on February 22, 2026. These changes expand leave entitlements, broaden covered uses of ESSTA leave, and include new pay-period notice requirements related to paid and unpaid leave balances. This alert details the policies, procedures, and payroll practices that are impacted by the changes to the ESSTA and what employers need to do to ensure compliance by the effective date.

If you have questions about how these changes may impact your business or would like assistance updating your policies or practices, please contact Jonathan Adler, Casey Hail, or Melanie Sarver.

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KEY ESSTA CHANGES EFFECTIVE FEBRUARY 22, 2026

Beginning February 22, 2026, NYC employers must 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. The 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time is in addition to the paid safe and sick time already available under ESSTA.

Order of Use

• When an employee requests time off for an ESSTA-covered purpose, employers must first grant the use of the employee’s accrued, unused paid safe and sick time.
• The unpaid bank applies only if the employee:
  • has not yet accrued paid ESSTA time, or
  • has exhausted their paid ESSTA balance.
• Unused unpaid safe and sick time is not subject to carryover from year to year.

Pay-Period Balance Notices

Employers must notify employees each pay period, on earnings statements or other written documentation. Notifications must include the amount of:

• Unpaid safe and sick time accrued, used, and available
• Paid safe and sick time accrued, used, and available
• Paid prenatal leave accrued, used, and available

Minimum Increments

Employers may apply a reasonable minimum usage increment, which may not exceed:

• Four (4) hours per day for paid and unpaid safe and sick time; and
• One (1) hour per day for paid prenatal leave under ESSTA.

Expanded Covered Uses

Employers must allow ESSTA safe and sick time to be used in additional circumstances, including:

• Caregiver Leave: Employees who are caregivers (defined as “a person who provides direct and ongoing care for a minor child or a care recipient”) must be permitted to use ESSTA leave for that purpose.
• Housing and Subsistence Benefits: Employees must be permitted to use ESSTA leave 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.
• Workplace Violence: Employees must be permitted to use ESSTA leave to meet with or obtain services from a legal or social services provider; and take other protective actions if the employee or a family member was a victim of workplace violence.
• Public Disaster: ESSTA leave must be permitted 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 has 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, preventing the employee from reporting to the employee’s work location.
• Paid Prenatal Leave (Already in Effect): As referenced in Stein Adler’s prior Employment Law Alert, effective January 1, 2025, the ESSTA requires covered employers to 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 NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection on May 30, 2025.

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ESSTA AND TEMPORARY SCHEDULE CHANGES LAW (“TSCL”)

The Temporary Schedule Changes Law (“TSCL”) is a NYC law that gives eligible employees the right to request a short-term change to their work schedule for certain “personal events” (for example, caregiving needs or certain medical-related appointments), without fear of retaliation. Although the TSCL does not always require an employer to approve the request, it does require the employer to respond and follow the law’s process.

Please be aware that the amendments to the ESSTA also impact the interplay between ESSTA and the NYC TSCL in the following ways:

• 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,” and within fourteen (14) days if the request is in writing.
• Employers may propose an alternative temporary change.

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WHAT SHOULD EMPLOYERS DO NOW?

New York City employers should plan to:

• Update policies and handbooks 
• Train managers and HR on request handling and the new permitted uses
• Coordinate with payroll/HRIS to ensure earnings statements (or written documentation) reflect the required paid/unpaid leave and paid prenatal leave balances each pay period
• Distribute required notices to current employees and new hires, including the updated New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection “Notice of Employee Rights: Safe and Sick Leave”

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QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about these developments or would like assistance updating policies or practices, please contact Jonathan Adler, Casey Hail, or Melanie Sarver.