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Effective February 22, 2026, employees in New York City will have expanded rights under the Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESSTA or the "Act"). Currently, ESSTA entitles covered employees to accrue 40 or 56 hours of sick and safe leave annually, depending on the size of their employer. The amendments to the Act recently passed by the New York City Council will now require employers to provide an additional 32 hours of unpaid leave which, rather than being accrued over time like the aforementioned paid leave, will be available upon hire and refresh on the first day of every calendar year.
The ESSTA amendments also expand the reasons for which an employee can use their sick and safe leave. Along with existing qualifying reasons, covered employees will now be able to utilize sick and safe time for absences related to caregiving, defined as "providing direct or ongoing care" for a minor child or a "care recipient." Under the Act, a care recipient is "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." Other new covered uses of leave under ESSTA include: restriction of in-person operations for or closure of the employee's workplace, or their child's school or childcare provider, due to a public emergency or public disaster, an employee or their covered family member being a victim of workplace violence, or proceedings related to subsistence benefits or housing for the employee, their covered family member, or their care recipient.
Additionally, the amendments formally align ESSTA with New York State paid prenatal leave requirements which went into effect on January 1, 2025, under which covered employers must provide eligible employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during a 52-week period. The amendments make clear this prenatal leave is in addition to the unpaid and paid leave requirements under ESSTA.
At this time, employers should carefully review their policies and procedures with regard to sick and safe leave to ensure compliance with the ESSTA amendments by February 22, 2026.
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