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Highlights
Impacted Employers: Employers that employ five or more employees, employers of one or more domestic workers, and any employer of four or fewer employees that had a net income of one million dollars or more during the previous tax year.
Effective Date:February 22, 2026
Summary:New York City has expanded its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act to provide additional unpaid leave and expand the reasons an employee may use the leave. The City has also formally added paid prenatal leave requirements into local law and reduced requirements under its Temporary Schedule Change Law.
Next Steps:Review safe and sick time policies, practices and training to ensure compliance with the changes to frontloading, use, reporting, and scheduling requirements.
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The Details
The New York City Council has enacted an ordinance that expands employee rights and amends New York City employers’ safe and sick time obligations. The amendments take effect on February 22, 2026.
Background
As background, New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) requires employers to provide safe and sick time off to employees working in New York City. Covered employees are entitled to 40 hours or 56 hours of leave annually (the required amount depends on employer size).
Expanded Safe and Sick Time Requirements
New Mandatory Frontloaded Unpaid Leave
New York City employers must provide 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time (without an employee waiting period) in addition to the paid ESSTA leave to covered employees immediately upon hire and on the first day of each calendar year.
Employers may impose a minimum usage increment of up to four hours per day, and any unused, unpaid safe or sick time is not subject to the ESSTA carryover requirements for paid leave accruals.
Additionally, when an employee needs time off for a covered reason, employers should assume the employee will use available paid sick time unless the employee notifies the employer that they want to use unpaid time. If ESSTA leave has not yet accrued, or the employee exhausted their ESSTA leave, the employee may use this unpaid leave or other time off under their employer’s policy.
Expanded Use
The amendments also expand the reasons employees may use safe and sick time under ESSTA to include:
· Caregiving: Employees who are caregivers (an individual who provides direct and ongoing care for a minor child or a care recipient) may take safe and sick time to care for a minor child or care recipient (an individual with a disability who is a family member or individual who resides in the caregiver’s household and relies on the caregiver for medical care or to meet the needs of daily living).
· Public disasters (such as fires, explosions, terrorist attacks, severe weather, or other emergencies declared by the U.S. president, New York governor, or New York City mayor), when the public disaster results in:
o Closure of the employee’s workplace;
o The employee’s need to care for a child whose school or childcare provider is closed or has restricted in-person operations; or
o A directive from public officials to remain indoors or avoid travel.
· Pursuit of subsistence benefits or housing: Employees who attend or prepare for legal proceedings or take necessary actions related to applying for, maintaining, or reinstating subsistence benefits or housing for themselves, a family member or a care recipient; and
· Workplace violence: Meeting with a legal or social service provider and taking other protective actions if they or a family member were victims of workplace violence (an act or threat of violence against an employee that occurs in the workplace).
The amendments also expand the list of sources an employee may use to provide the required reasonable documentation after three consecutive days of ESSTA use.
Formal Incorporation of Paid Prenatal Leave into ESSTA
As background, New York City’s prenatal leave requirements were enacted to align with New York state’s prenatal leave law, which took effect on January 1, 2025.
The amendments:
· Formally incorporate the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s rule to align ESSTA with New York State’s paid prenatal leave requirements;
· Reinforce employers’ obligations to provide 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during a 52-week calendar period to eligible employees (in addition to paid and unpaid safe and sick time). Note: Employers may set a minimum usage increment of one hour for prenatal leave; and
· Require employers to:
o Modify their current policy to detail the ESSTA’s prenatal leave entitlements;
o Distribute the revised policy to all new hires and current employees within 14 days of the policy’s effective date;
o Distribute and post the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s updated prenatal leave notice (this includes physically posting the notice at the workplace and distributing the notice to new hires and to current employees when their rights change). Note that the employer must maintain records of the distribution of these notices;
o Keep additional covered reasons for an employees’ use of ESSTA confidential.
Recordkeeping / Pay Statement Requirements
The following provides an overview of current and future requirements impacting pay statements.
Pay Statement Requirements
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Leave Type
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Current Law
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Effective 2 /22/26
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Unpaid Safe and Sick leave
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N/A
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- the amount of unpaid safe and sick leave accrued during the pay period*
- the amount of unpaid safe and sick leave used during the pay period; and
- the total amount of unpaid safe and sick leave available for use in the Calendar Year
*Final rules and/or additional agency guidance should further clarify requirements.
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Paid Safe and Sick Leave
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- the amount of safe and sick leave accrued during the pay period;
- the amount of safe and sick leave used during the pay period; and
- the total amount of safe and sick leave available for use in the Calendar Year.*
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No change
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Paid Prenatal Leave
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For each pay period that an employee uses paid prenatal leave, the employer must give the employee the following information in writing:
- the amount of paid prenatal leave used during the pay period; and
- the total amount of paid prenatal leave still available for use in the 52-week period.
Employers may provide this information on pay stubs or other documentation provided to employees each pay period (pay statement) or in separate written documentation.*
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Unclear. Final rules and/or additional agency guidance is needed to clarify if current requirements will continue to apply.
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*If an employer does not issue pay statements and instead uses an electronic system to give employees required information about safe and sick leave and paid prenatal leave, the employer may comply with requirements by using the electronic system if certain requirements are met. See “Notice of Rights and Pay Statements (FAQ# 6) from the NYC Consumer and Worker Protection FAQS for more information.
Reduction of Temporary Schedule Change Law Obligations
As background, the Temporary Schedule Change Law (TSCL), required employers to approve up to two temporary schedule changes (limited alteration in the dates, hours, times, or locations where an employee is expected to work) annually for an employee’s personal events, such as caregiving obligations and subsistence benefits.
With ESSTA now covering these events, employees may continue to request temporary schedule changes, but employers are no longer required to approve them (employers can approve, deny, or propose an alternative to such a request). The employer must also respond to an employee’s request as soon as practical.
Penalties
The amendments also clarify that paid prenatal leave violations may also result in penalties. See the ordinance for details.
Next Steps
Employers with employees working in New York City should review and update their policies and practices to ensure compliance with the new ESSTA requirements by February 22, 2026.
ADP will continue to monitor for any additional agency guidance.