On September 25, 2025, the New York City Council passed Int. No. 780-A, amending both the Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESSTA) (Sections 20-912 et seq. of the N.Y.C. Administrative Code), governing the provision of paid safe and sick leave, and the Temporary Schedule Change Act (Sections 20-1261 et seq. of the N.Y.C. Administrative Code), governing temporary schedule changes. The law was enacted on October 25, 2025, and will become effective 120 days thereafter, on February 22, 2026.
ESSTA amendments
Effective February 22, 2026, New York City employers must revise their paid safe and sick leave policies to reflect the new law’s expansion of ESSTA in several respects.
Expanded safe/sick leave purposes
The amendments broaden the permissible uses of safe and sick leave as detailed below.
Sick leave
Employees may now use sick leave for an absence from work in the event an employee’s place of business is closed by order of a public official due to a public disaster or if the employee needs to care for a child whose school has restricted in-person operations by order of a public official due to a public health emergency or public disaster. N.Y.C. Admin. Code Section 20-914(a)(1)(c). This provision was previously limited to public health emergencies and school closures; it did not account for public disasters or restricted in-person operations at the employee’s child’s school.
- A “public disaster” is defined as “an event such as fire, explosion, terrorist attack, severe weather conditions or other catastrophe that is declared a public emergency or disaster by the president of the United States, the governor of the state of New York or the mayor of the city of New York.” Section 20-912.
Employees also may use sick time for an absence due to “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.” Section 20-914(a)(1)(d).
Safe leave
The amendments also meaningfully expand the permissible uses of safe leave.
First, employees may now use safe leave for an absence from work when the employee is a caregiver for a minor child or care recipient, to provide care to the minor child or care recipient. Section 20-914(b)(1)(b).
- A “caregiver” is defined as “a person who provides direct and ongoing care for a minor child or a care recipient.” Section 20-912.
- A “care recipient” is defined as “a person with a disability, including a temporary disability, who (i) is the caregiver’s family member or resides in the caregiver’s household and (ii) relies on the caregiver for medical care or to meet the needs of daily living.” Id.
In effect, employees may now use paid safe leave for child care purposes for the employee’s minor children (or other minor children for whom they provide ongoing care).
Second, employees may use safe leave “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.” Section 20-914(b)(1)(c).
Third, employees may use safe time for an absence from work if the employee or their family member has been a victim of workplace violence, to maintain or restore the health or safety of the employee. Section 20-914(b)(1)(a).
- “Workplace violence” is defined as “any act or threat of violence against an employee that occurs in a place of employment.” Section 20-912.
32 hours of unpaid leave
In addition to the 40 or 56 hours of paid safe/sick leave provided under subdivision (b) of Section 20-913, employees are now entitled to 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick leave that is immediately available for use upon hire and on the first day of each calendar year. Section 20-913(k).
Unlike paid safe/sick leave, employers are not required to carry over any unused unpaid safe/sick leave from this additional leave bank to the following calendar year. Section 20-913(k). As with paid safe/sick leave, employers may set a reasonable minimum increment of use for the unpaid leave, which cannot exceed four hours. Section 20-913(g). As a result, city-based employers with 100 or more employees must now provide most of their employees with a minimum of 88 hours (11 workdays), and employers with fewer than 100 employees must provide most of their employees with a minimum of 72 hours (9 workdays) of job protected safe/sick leave, some of which may be unpaid but some of which must be paid.
Employees may use their unpaid safe/sick leave balance when paid safe/sick leave is unavailable or if the employee specifically requests to use it in lieu of their existing paid safe/sick leave balance. N.Y.C. Admin. Code Section 20-913(k). Therefore, if an employee notifies their employer that they need time off for a purpose permitted under ESSTA, employers should default to charging the time off against the employee’s paid safe/sick leave balance unless notified otherwise by the employee.
Employers must also track the use and availability of the unpaid safe/sick leave balance and provide such information on employee pay stubs, or another form of written documentation, each pay period. Section 20-919(c).
20 hours of paid prenatal leave
The amendments to ESSTA require that employers provide 20 hours of paid prenatal leave. Section 20-913(l). This codifies amendments to the Rules of the City of New York (RCNY) discussed in our prior Insight. The newly amended law also confirms that employers may not rely on existing paid time off policies to satisfy the additional 20-hour paid prenatal leave entitlement, as many do to satisfy the regular paid safe/sick leave entitlement. Section 20-913(c). Accordingly, employers that rely on paid time off policies for compliance with ESSTA must account for the 20-hour prenatal leave entitlement and administer those leaves separately.
Temporary Schedule Change Act
In a change that benefits employers, the law removes as of February 22, 2026, the existing obligation under the New York City Temporary Schedule Change Act to grant two temporary schedule changes to an employee’s work schedule when requested by the employee due to a personal event. As amended, the law now provides that when an employee requests such a schedule change, the employer is required only to respond to the request as soon as practicable and that the employee is protected from retaliation for having made the request. The employer is not required to grant the requested schedule change. Section 20-1262(a).
- A “temporary schedule change” is defined as “a limited alteration in the dates, hours, times, or locations where an employee is expected to work, including, but not limited to, using paid or unpaid time off, working remotely, swapping shifts with another employee, or shifting work hours to earlier or later in the work week or workday.” Section 20-1261.
Considering the city’s broad definition of retaliation, employers are prohibited from taking any adverse action that not only penalizes an employee for requesting a temporary schedule change but that is also reasonably likely to deter such an employee from requesting a temporary schedule change. Additionally, new hires who have been employed for fewer than 120 days are now covered by the law.
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For questions or concerns regarding any of the issues raised in this alert, please contact a member of our Employment Law Department.