November Tip of the Month: NYC Earned Safe and Sick Time Act Amended, Effective February 2026
New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) requires employers to provide safe and sick leave to New York City employees for a range of qualifying reasons.
Depending on employer size, at present, employees may accrue and use either 40 or 56 hours of paid safe and sick leave annually. Effective February 22, 2026, however, employers will be required to provide an additional 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick leave to all employees, in addition to the above-noted allotments. The ESSTA amendments will also expand the qualifying reasons for which employees may use safe and sick leave, including for time needed to care for a minor. The amendments will also introduce new recordkeeping requirements. New York City employers should promptly review and update their sick and safe leave policies, procedures, and recordkeeping practices to ensure compliance with the ESSTA’s forthcoming amendments.
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Before proceeding, please note: If you are not a current client of Perkins Coie, please do not include any information in this e-mail that you or someone else considers to be of a confidential or secret nature. Perkins Coie has no duty to keep confidential any of the information you provide. Neither the transmission nor receipt of your information is considered a request for legal advice, securing or retaining a lawyer. An attorney-client relationship with Perkins Coie or any lawyer at Perkins Coie is not established until and unless Perkins Coie agrees to such a relationship as memorialized in a separate writing.