What's Changing with NYC ESSTA in 2026

What's new for NYC safe and sick time in 2026

New York City's ESSTA rules still require paid safe and sick leave for covered employees who work in the city. What's new is an extra bank: 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick leave frontloaded each year, in addition to paid leave. If you only track one sick-leave balance, you are already behind.

If you have employees working in NYC, the city rule applies even when your HQ is elsewhere. If nobody works in the city, ESSTA is not your ordinance — but New York State sick leave may still apply for work in the state outside the city.

What to set up this week

• List every employee who works in New York City (on-site, hybrid, or remote in the city).
• Confirm your paid ESSTA tier (40 or 56 hours by employer size, or the small-employer structure).
• Add a separate 32-hour unpaid safe/sick bank and frontload it for the year.
• Update the written policy so paid and unpaid ESSTA are both plain to managers.
• Stop using attendance points for protected ESSTA absences.
• Keep leave grant, use, and balance records with the same care as payroll.

Where NYC employers get caught

• Treating the 32 unpaid hours as a replacement for paid ESSTA instead of an add-on.
• Applying a non-NYC HQ handbook to Manhattan or Brooklyn staff.
• Putting vacation, paid sick, and unpaid ESSTA into one PTO bucket.
• Rebuilding a long waiting period while "updating for 2026."
• Denying short absences with documentation rules the city does not allow.

Two banks, one city rule

Run paid ESSTA and the 2026 unpaid 32-hour bank as separate entitlements — and never assume a state or HQ policy covers New York City.