Because the “Blizzard of 2026” buried the Huge Apple underneath as a lot as 24 inches of snow in some neighborhoods between Sunday and Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered a pointed reminder: clearing sidewalks is not only town’s job.
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
On February 22, New York Metropolis’s amended Earned Secure and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) went into impact — and the timing couldn’t have been extra becoming. We had simply come by way of per week of snow advisories, college closures, and journey bans. Employers throughout the 5 boroughs have been scrambling to determine what they owed their employees. The brief reply: greater than they could have realized.
What modified on February 22
ESSTA now requires employers of all sizes to offer a further 32 hours of unpaid protected and sick time every year, on prime of no matter paid go away is already required. That extra unpaid time is out there instantly upon rent — it doesn’t must be accrued. And initially of every new calendar yr, these 32 hours reset.
Snow and town
Right here is the half that acquired a variety of consideration throughout final month’s winter storms: workers can now use this time when a public official directs them to not journey, or when their office — or their youngster’s college or childcare supplier — closes attributable to a public catastrophe. That features extreme climate occasions like snowstorms or hurricanes, so long as a state of emergency has been declared by the president, governor or mayor.
And earlier than you ask: no, being an “essential” employee doesn’t remove the best. An worker who’s required to report throughout a declared emergency remains to be be entitled to make use of go away.
Expanded makes use of for go away
Different classes of causes workers can now use protected and sick time embody:
Take care of a minor youngster or a delegated “care recipient”
When a public official directs them to remain residence or mandates evacuation
Authorized or social companies associated to office violence
Authorized proceedings linked to housing or subsistence advantages
A be aware on exempt vs. non-exempt workers
That is a type of areas the place the federal and native guidelines work together in methods that may journey employers up. Below the Truthful Labor Requirements Act (FLSA), exempt workers have to be paid for the total workweek in the event that they work any a part of it, even when your corporation closes attributable to climate. That may be a federal obligation that exists impartial of ESSTA.
For non-exempt workers, they’re usually solely paid for hours labored — which signifies that if the enterprise is closed and so they can’t work, accrued protected and sick time turns into the mechanism by which they’ll receives a commission for that point. Importantly: you can’t pressure an worker to make use of their go away time. If the enterprise is closed and so they desire to not use it, that’s their name.
Enforcement isn’t hypothetical
The Division of Shopper and Employee Safety has ramped up its enforcement presence underneath the present administration, and ESSTA has been a spotlight space. Penalties for non-compliance can embody again pay, civil penalties, and attorneys’ charges. Maybe extra importantly, low utilization charges — that means workers are barely or by no means utilizing their protected and sick time — are being handled as a sign that one thing is unsuitable. In case your data present that workers are nearly by no means utilizing go away, be ready to clarify why.
The February 22 efficient date has handed. If in case you have not already up to date your insurance policies and issued the brand new Discover of Worker Rights, the time to do it’s now.
Watch Albany, too
Whereas town’s amended ESSTA is already in impact, the state legislature is actively working by way of its personal employee safety agenda. The proposed Empire Act would permit non-public events — together with workers and labor organizations — to file public enforcement lawsuits for wage theft on behalf of the state Division of Labor, backed by a $103 million annual enforcement fund. And the “Trapped at Work” regulation will considerably curtail using employment promissory notes and coaching compensation agreements.
Employee protections in New York are increasing, enforcement is intensifying, and the results of getting it unsuitable are rising. The compliance necessities are simple, however they should really occur:
Replace your handbooks and insurance policies. Your written go away coverage must mirror the extra 32 hours of unpaid time and the expanded utilization classes.
Concern up to date Notices of Worker Rights. ESSTA requires employers to offer the up to date discover to all workers of their main language.
Overview your timekeeping and monitoring techniques. The 32 hours of unpaid time have to be out there instantly and tracked individually from accrued paid time. Your payroll or HR system must be set as much as deal with this accurately.
Prepare your managers. Entrance-line supervisors must know {that a} declared climate emergency could set off worker go away rights — and that denying or discouraging using protected time is a compliance violation.
Revisit any coaching compensation clauses in your employment contracts.
And watch Albany — the April 1 finances deadline will inform us loads about what the remainder of 2026 seems to be like for New York employers.
Rachel Demarest Gold is a accomplice with Abrams Fensterman and is director of the agency’s labor and employment observe.
