New York City Publishes Updated FAQs and Notices for Amended Earned Safe and Sick Time Act

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Quick Hits

• New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) published updated FAQs and form notices in light of the amended ESSTA.
• Thirty-two hours of unpaid safe and sick time is available immediately to current employees and new hires.
• Twenty hours of paid prenatal leave is available immediately to current employees and new hires.
• Employers are required to provide documentation on use and accrual of unpaid and paid safe and sick and paid prenatal leave each pay period.

Overview

As previously reported, on October 25, 2025, New York City adopted Int. No. 0780-2004, which amended the ESSTA. The amendments expanded covered reasons to use ESSTA and provided for a separate bank of thirty-two hours of unpaid safe and sick leave and codified the requirement that employers provide a separate bank of twenty hours of paid prenatal leave. The ESSTA amendments also scale back employer obligations under the Temporary Schedule Change Law (TSCL), which required employers to grant two temporary schedule changes annually for personal events. The DCWP’s updated FAQs provide clarification and guidance regarding the ESSTA amendments on several areas, which are highlighted below. The DCWP has also rebranded unpaid and paid safe and sick leave as “Protected Time Off” while reiterating that paid prenatal leave is a separate benefit and in addition to protected time off.

Immediate Unpaid Safe and Sick Leave for Current Employees and New Hires

In addition to paid safe and sick time, the ESSTA amendment requires all employers, regardless of size or net income, to provide thirty-two hours of unpaid safe and sick time or “protected time off” to employees. As drafted, the amendment stated that the unpaid safe and sick time would be available immediately upon hire and subsequently on the first day of the employer’s calendar year.

The FAQs clarify that, as of February 22, 2026, employers must provide thirty-two hours of unpaid safe and sick leave for immediate use to all current employees, in addition to new hires. Additionally, employers must provide another bank of thirty-two hours of unpaid protected time off on the first day of the employers’ calendar year. The FAQs also clarify that employers cannot provide a prorated amount of immediately available hours when an employee is hired partway through the calendar year.

Additionally, the FAQs clarify that if an employer provides an additional thirty-two hours of paid time off benefits over and above what is required of the employer by the ESSTA, and makes those thirty-two hours immediately available for use, the employer does not need to create a separate leave bank for the unpaid thirty-two hours required by the ESSTA amendment.

Pay Statement and Recordkeeping Requirements

The FAQs provide additional guidance on the recordkeeping requirements for unpaid safe and sick leave and paid prenatal leave. For each pay period, employers must include the amount of unpaid protected time off available for use in a calendar year. The employer can include this information on pay stubs or other documentation provided to the employee for each pay period. Pursuant to the FAQs, for each pay period an employee uses paid prenatal leave, the employer must provide 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 fifty-two-week period. Such information may be provided on pay stubs, in other documentation to the employee for the pay period, or in separate written documentation.

Temporary Schedule Change Law

As previously reported, the ESSTA amendments scaled back the requirements under the TSCL. Under the TSCL, employers were required to grant two temporary schedule changes annually for personal events. The ESSTA amendments expanded leave coverage to include the personal events covered by the TSCL and replaced the required grant of schedule changes with thirty-two hours of unpaid leave. While employees may still request temporary schedule changes instead of taking protected time off, such as working remotely, swapping shifts, or changing the time or location of their work shift, employers are no longer obligated to approve them but can approve, deny, or propose an alternative to such a request.

Updated Model Notices

The DCWP also published updated versions of the Notice of Employee Rights and the Workers’ Bill of Rights, which employers must distribute to their employees and post in the workplace by March 8, 2026.

The updated Notice of Employee Rights outlines employer obligations for paid prenatal leave as well as the expanded uses for paid and unpaid protected time off, the amount and accrual rate for paid and unpaid protected time off and paid prenatal leave, and a statement against retaliation.

In addition, the Workers’ Bill of Rights has been updated to incorporate the amendments to the ESSTA and TSCL.

Rules for Protected Time Off Policies

The DCWP also published Rules for Protected Time Off Policies. Employers are required to have a written paid time off policy, and paid prenatal leave policy and sick policies are required to be included in that single document. The policy rules also outline information that must be included in an employer’s policy, including, but limited to, an explanation of accrual, front-loading, carryover calculations, and policies and procedures for using protected time off and paid prenatal leave. Employers may want to update their policies and distribute them to employees by March 8, 2026.

Next Steps

Employers in New York City or with employees in New York City may wish to review and revise relevant leave-related policies and procedures to reflect the ESSTA amendments and updated FAQs. Employers may also wish to educate and train supervisors and human resources professionals on these changes to ensure their compliance, as well as update existing practices to align with the above requirements. In addition, employers may wish to review their pay statement practices and other recordkeeping policies and procedures to ensure they comply with the new requirements.

Ogletree Deakins’ New York office and Leaves of Absence/Reasonable Accommodation Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Leaves of Absence and New York blogs as additional information becomes available.

In addition, the Ogletree Deakins Client Portal provides subscribers with timely updates on New York City’s ESSTA requirements. Premium-level subscribers have access to updated policy templates for New York. Snapshots and Updates are complimentary for all registered client users. For more information on the Client Portal or a Client Portal subscription, please email clientportal@ogletree.com.

Leslie A. Lajewski is a shareholder in the Morristown office of Ogletree Deakins.

Jamie Haar is of counsel in the New York office of Ogletree Deakins.

Emily A. Hall is a 2025 graduate of the Cardozo School of Law and is currently awaiting admission to the State Bar of New York.

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