Recently enacted amendments to the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) will go into effect February 22, 2026. Employers in New York City should familiarize themselves with the new requirements for usage and recordkeeping under the ESSTA, revise their employee handbook promptly in advance of February, and train supervisory and human resources employees on the amended requirements.
What’s New Under the ESSTA
Additional Permissible Uses
The ESSTA amendments expand permissible safe and sick leave uses to now also include:
- Closure of the workplace, school, or childcare provider due to a public disaster (defined as events “such as fire, explosion, terrorist attack, severe weather conditions or other catastrophe” declared as public emergencies by the U.S. president, the governor of New York, or the mayor of New York City)
- Compliance with direction by a public official to remain indoors or avoid travel because of a public disaster that prevents such employee from reporting to their work location
- Obtaining legal or social services or taking other safety measures if the employee or employee’s family member is a victim of workplace violence
- Providing care to a minor child or care recipient (which is newly defined under the amendments) or
- Initiating, attending, or preparing for a legal proceeding related to subsistence benefits or housing for the employee, employee’s family member, or employee’s care recipient, or taking actions necessary to apply for, maintain, or restore such benefits or shelter
Front-Loaded Unpaid Leave Bank
The ESSTA amendments now require employers to provide a separate bank of at least 32 hours of unpaid leave that must be front-loaded at hire and at the beginning of each calendar year. This unpaid leave bank must be provided by all employers regardless of their size or net income. The front-loaded unpaid leave must be available for use immediately for any permissible reason under the ESSTA. Unused leave from this unpaid leave bank does not carry over to the next year.
Notably, this unpaid leave bank is separate from employers’ paid leave requirements under the ESSTA. Without guidance from the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), it is currently unclear how this new unpaid leave bank will interact with an employer’s more generous paid leave policies, including other front-loaded paid time off or paid sick leave policies.
The ESSTA amendments also modify the New York City Temporary Schedule Change Act (TSCA) requirements for employers. The TSCA formerly entitled employees to request up to two temporary schedule changes per year for “personal events,” such as caregiving for a minor child or care recipient or seeking subsistence benefits. Now, employees may request, but employers are not obligated to provide, these two temporary schedule changes under the TSCA because employees are permitted to use leave under the ESSTA for these purposes.
Codifying Paid Prenatal Leave
In addition to these recent amendments, the ESSTA was amended earlier this year to codify paid prenatal leave requirements for employers, in alignment with the prenatal leave amendments to the New York State Paid Sick Leave Law. This codification became effective July 2, 2025. Employers must now provide 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during any 52-week calendar period in accordance with the other ESSTA parameters. The effect of this codification is that the ESSTA’s strong enforcement actions now include enforcing compliance with paid prenatal leave requirements.
It is likely the DCWP will provide additional guidance or updated fact sheets in the coming months as the effective date of the new amendments draws closer. Venable will continue to monitor these updates. In the interim, should any questions about leave entitlements, policy revisions, or leave law implementation arise, please contact the authors of this article or any attorney in Venable’s Labor and Employment Group.