Recent amendments to New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) introduce new obligations for employers and expanded benefits for employees. Effective February 22, 2026, New York City employers must provide the following:
- an additional 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick leave in addition to the 40 or 56 hours of paid safe and sick time that was already provided by the statute
- expanded covered uses of safe and sick time to address new circumstances
The additional 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick leave must be provided immediately upon hire and at the beginning of each calendar year. Unpaid safe and sick leave must be provided and tracked in a bank separate and apart from paid safe and sick leave.
Any unused unpaid safe and sick leave time does not carry over to the next calendar year, whereas unused paid safe and sick leave may be carried over to the next calendar year.
Expanded Permissible Uses of Safe and Sick Time
The amendments significantly broaden the permissible uses for NYC safe and sick time off (both paid and unpaid) to include:
- Caregiving: When an employee serves as a caregiver for a minor child or care recipient,1 the employee may take time off to provide necessary care.
- Subsistence benefits and housing: To initiate, attend, or prepare for legal proceedings or hearings related to subsistence benefits or housing involving the employee, an employee’s family member,2 or the employee’s care recipient or to take actions necessary to apply for, maintain, or restore subsistence benefits or shelter.
- Workplace violence: When the employee or the employee’s family member has been the victim of workplace violence.
- Public disaster:3
- When the employee’s place of business or child’s school or childcare provider has been closed by order of a public official due to a public disaster.
- When a public official directs individuals to remain indoors or avoid travel during a public disaster that prevents the employee from reporting to work.
- When a child’s school or childcare provider restricts in-person operations due to a public health emergency or disaster.
A FAQs page published by New York City clarifies that an employee may use safe and sick leave for weather-related events when it impacts their health or their family members’ health (although, mere travel difficulties due to weather-related events do not qualify as a permissible reason for use). In addition, while attendance at a funeral is not explicitly a permissible reason for use of safe and sick leave, the FAQs provide that safe and sick leave may be used for anxiety or depression associated with a loss or “to attend a funeral to care for a family member who needs care for a mental or physical health condition.”
Next Steps for Employers
NYC employers must revise their policies and procedures to ensure compliance with these amendments. Beyond the policy updates, employers should train managers and human resources personnel on the permissible uses for safe and sick leave so they can appropriately respond to employee requests for leave. In addition, employers need to update their payroll systems to track and report paid and unpaid safe and sick leave usage.
If you have any questions regarding the content of this alert, please contact Megan Bahas, of counsel, at mbahas@barclaydamon.com; Madeline Stoklosa, associate, at mstoklosa@barclaydamon.com; or another member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Area.
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1A 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.
2For purposes of NYC safe and sick leave, a family member includes a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild, or grandparent; the child or parent of an employee’s spouse or domestic partner; any other individual related by blood to the employee; and any other individual whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.
3A public disaster includes events such as fires, explosions, terrorist attacks, severe weather conditions, or other public emergencies declared by the United States president, New York State governor, or New York City mayor.