New York City has enacted Int. 780-A, amending the city’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) and aligning it with the Temporary Schedule Change Act (TSCA). The amendments expand the permissible uses of ESSTA leave to include caregiving for a minor child or care recipient, participation in legal proceedings related to subsistence benefits or housing and actions necessary to apply for or maintain such benefits or shelter.
Additional provisions apply when schools or childcare providers restrict in-person operations due to a public disaster or when public officials issue stay-at-home or travel restrictions. Safe leave is also available to employees who are victims of workplace violence.
The law maintains current accrual caps but introduces a new front-loaded allotment of 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time, available upon hire and at the start of each calendar year, without carryover. The TSCA is restructured so that employees retain the right to request temporary schedule changes, but the previous guarantee of two TSCA days is replaced by the new unpaid ESSTA allotment. Employers must respond promptly to requests but are not required to approve them.
The amendments also require employers to provide 20 hours of paid prenatal leave within any 52-week period, in addition to ESSTA leave. Updated notice and pay-statement requirements apply, and documentation rules have been clarified: reasonable documentation may be requested after more than three consecutive workdays, without requiring disclosure of the underlying condition. Employers must reimburse reasonable documentation costs and maintain confidentiality. Minimum increments for leave may be set at up to four hours per day for ESSTA and one hour for prenatal leave.
The amended law takes effect on February 21, 2026.