The Bottom Line
- Amendments to the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act and the Temporary Schedule Change Law will require employers to provide additional unpaid sick/safe time and expand the reasons for which sick/safe time can be used, while dialing back employers’ temporary schedule change obligations.
- Ahead of the February 22, 2026 effective date, employers should update their policies and practices to ensure compliance with the new requirements.
- Employers should also look out for further guidance and an updated notice/poster from the City regarding employee sick/safe leave rights.
New York City employers face significant new compliance obligations in early 2026. Amendments to the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act and the Temporary Schedule Change Law will require employers to provide additional unpaid sick/safe time, expand the reasons employees may use leave, and modify how employers must respond to employee schedule change requests, with an effective date of February 22, 2026.
Amendments to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act
New Requirement: 32 Hours of Unpaid Sick and Safe Time
Under the bill, employers will be required to provide 32 hours of unpaid sick/safe time to New York City employees. This is in addition to the 40 or 56 hours of paid sick/safe time most NYC employers were already required to provide, depending on employer size.
Key features of the unpaid sick/safe time include:
- The time must be provided as a lump sum upon hire and at the start of each calendar year
- Unused time does not carry over at year-end to the following year
- If an employee has paid sick/safe time available, the employer must apply paid time to the absence unless the employee specifically requests unpaid time
- As is the case with paid sick/safe time, employers are required to inform employees in writing each pay period of the amount of unpaid sick/safe time they have earned, used, and have remaining
Expanded Reasons Employees May Use Sick and Safe Time
The amendments broaden the reasons employees can use their sick/safe time. Newly covered reasons include:
- Closure of an employee’s place of business by order of a public official due to a public disaster
- The employee’s need to care for a child whose school or childcare provider closed or restricted in-person operations by order of a public official due to a public health emergency or public disaster
- Direction by a public official to remain indoors or avoid travel during a public disaster that prevents the employee from reporting to their work location
- Safe time absences when the employee or their family member is a victim of workplace violence
- Time needed to provide care for the employee’s minor child or care recipient
- Time to initiate, attend or prepare for a legal proceeding or hearing related to subsistence benefits or housing, or to take steps to apply for, maintain, or restore such benefits or shelter, for the employee, a family member or a care recipient
Updated Notices
Given that employers are required to provide employees with an updated notice of rights when employees’ rights under the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act change, we expect that the City will release an updated model notice and poster for employers prior to the amendments’ effective date.
Changes to the Temporary Schedule Change Law
Prior to the amendments, the Temporary Schedule Changes Law required employers to grant a limited number of temporary schedule changes for specific covered reasons and imposed detailed notice and response requirements.
As amended:
- Employees may request temporary schedule changes for any reason
- Employers are not required to approve the request
- Employers must respond as soon as practicable, indicating whether the request is approved, denied, or whether an alternate schedule is proposed
- Employees are not required to accept an alternate schedule
- Eligibility is expanded to all employees who work 80 or more hours in New York City in a calendar year