New York Workplace Compliance
News & Resources
Life moves fast in New York. From the crowded streets of Manhattan to the winding roads and sudden shifts in weather upstate, there’s little time to catch a break or catch a breath. To make it in the Empire State, businesses need to have grit, acuity, and the capacity to adapt to tough, ever-changing circumstances.
Those circumstances include the state’s rigorous workforce laws and regulations. New York has earned a reputation for far-reaching legislation and aggressive enforcement of rules surrounding employee health and safety, fraud, harassment, and more. For employers, noncompliance could lead to significant fines, litigation, and even criminal prosecution. Learn what you need to know to keep your people safe and stay on the right side of the law.
Stay on top of safety and compliance the right way with this New York-specific information but be sure to seek legal counsel when you’re looking for how these changes will directly impact your business. Wherever available, KPA products are updated with the latest government notices and posters for employers.
New York HR News
Who: New York City employers
When: Effective immediately
The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has finalized rules implementing amendments to the Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESSTA), replacing the term “safe/sick time” with “protected time off” throughout the law. The rules take effect July 23, 2026.
Employees must now receive 32 hours of unpaid protected time off immediately upon hire and again at the start of each calendar year that is available for a qualifying reason if an employee hasn’t yet accrued protected time off, has hit their annual cap, or simply needs to use unpaid leave on request. Employers are not required to roll over unused hours to the following year.
Employers must maintain a single written policy covering both protected time off and paid prenatal leave, and must distribute that policy to employees upon hire, within 14 days of any changes to it, and whenever an employee requests a copy. Pay statements need to separately track paid and unpaid protected time off in terms of what’s been used and what remains available.
Employers using electronic systems must either provide continuous access for six months, or, within a week of the employee’s last payday, issue a statement showing protected time off accrued and used during the pay period (noting whether it was paid or unpaid), the total balance, plus the same information for paid prenatal leave. For non-safe-time requests lasting more than three days, employers may request reasonable documentation. Employers must keep records for three years.
Failing to provide protected time off can result in the employer being required to pay the employee twice the annual maximum accrued hours plus a $500 penalty and 32 hours of unpaid protected time off. Paid parental leave violations carry an additional 20 hours of paid leave plus a $500 penalty.
How:
- Review all related practices, documentation, reimbursement, and record retention, to ensure alignment with the amended rules.
- Distribute policy updates to employees within 14 days.
- Ensure payroll, HRIS, and leave administration systems can provide 32 hours of unpaid leave immediately.
- Determine whether pay statements or electronic systems can distinguish between paid and unpaid protected time off.
- Train HR and any personnel who handle payroll or administer leave on the new requirements.
Additional Resources
Who: New York City employers
When: Effective immediately; notify employees by March 24, 2026
On February 19, 2026, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection released an updated New York City Notice of Employee Rights Protected Time Off Notice. The notice provides information about employees’ rights to sick and safe time and paid prenatal leave. Employers must post the notice in the workplace and distribute it to current employees and new hires by March 24, 2026. Employers must provide the notice in in English and in any language spoken as a primary language by at least 5% of employees at the workplace if translations are available on the DCWP website.
The city also published FAQs that provide guidance on the updates to the NYC Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESSTA), including information about covered uses, accrual for sick leave, and the addition of 32 hours of unpaid sick leave. The new unpaid sick leave went into effect on February 22, 2026, in compliance with an amendment to ESSTA.
When updating sick and safe leave policies, employers should remove any language related to the temporary schedule change (TSCA), which has been eliminated under the amended ESSTA.
How:
- Distribute the Notice of Employee Rights Protected Time Off Notice to all employees and post it in the workplace by March 24, 2026.
- Give the notice to all new employees upon hire.
- Update your safe and sick leave policies to comply with the new law.
- Train HR and other personnel who manage safe and sick leave.
Additional Resources:
Notice of Employee Rights: Protected Time Off
NYC Consumer and Worker Protection Protected Time Off Law
NYC Consumer and Worker Protection Protected Time Off Law: Frequently Asked Questions
Who: New York City employers
When: Effective February 22, 2026
New York City enacted Int. 780-A on October 25, 2025, which amends the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) beginning February 22, 2025. The current law requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide up to 56 hours of safe and sick leave per year, and employers with 99 or fewer employees to provide up to 40 hours of safe and sick leave per year. Employees accrue one hour of safe and sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than four employees and a net income of less than $1 million in the previous year do not have to provide paid safe and sick leave.
Changes to ESSTA include:
- Expanded reasons employees can take safe and sick leave;
- Front-loaded, unpaid safe and sick leave;
- Additional hours of parental leave; and
- Elimination of most requirements under the Temporary Schedule Change Act (TSCA).
The amended law states that employees can now also use safe and sick leave when:
- There is a closure of a workplace, school, or childcare center due to a public disaster;
- A public official announces that people must stay indoors and avoid travel due to a public disaster;
- Caring for a minor child or care recipient;
- Obtaining services related to the employee or a covered family member being a victim of workplace violence; and
- Attending or preparing for legal proceedings for benefits or housing, or taking action to help restore or maintain benefits for themselves, a family member, or a care recipient.
Employers must provide an additional 32 hours of unpaid leave up front, which employees can use for any reason immediately upon accrual. The leave does not carry over to the following year.
In addition to paid and unpaid sick and safe time, employers must provide up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during any 52-week period, which employees can use in one-hour increments.
Employees may still request a temporary schedule change under TSCA, but employers do not have to approve the request.
How:
- Update your safe and sick leave policies.
- Train HR and other personnel who administer safe and sick leave.
- Review your policies related to temporary schedule change.
- Implement the new 32-hour unpaid leave bank.
- Post the updated notice of employee rights in the workplace and provide it to all employees.
Additional Resources:
Who: New York City employers
When: Effective immediately
On June 3, 2025, the New York City Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection (DCWP) amended the city’s rules related to its Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), which updates paid prenatal leave obligations for employers effective July 2, 2025.
DCWP’s new rules address:
- The amount of paid prenatal leave;
- Written policy requirements;
- Employee notice;
- Balance notification;
- Documentation;
- Increments of use;
- Confidentiality;
- Coordination with other leaves;
- Recordkeeping; and
- Potential penalties.
Under New York law, paid prenatal leave is “leave taken for healthcare services received by an employee during their pregnancy or related to such pregnancy, including physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring and testing, and discussions with a healthcare provider related to the pregnancy.”
Under the law, employees are entitled to up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave in any 52-week period, and employers must maintain “written safe/sick time and paid prenatal leave policies in a single writing,” which must include:
- The employer’s method of calculating safe/sick time in accordance with the law;
- The availability of a separate bank of 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during any 52-week calendar period;
- The employer’s policies regarding the use of safe/sick time and paid prenatal leave, including any limitations or conditions the employer places on the use of such time, to include:
- Any requirement for an employee to provide notice of a need to use such time;
- Any requirement for reasonable written documentation or confirmation of the use of such time;
- Any reasonable minimum increment or fixed period for the use of such time, not to exceed a requirement of one hour per day;
- Any policy on discipline for employee misuse of such time; and
- A statement regarding confidentiality requirements under the law, specifically affirming that employees are not required to disclose details about their medical condition that led to their use of leave;
- The employer’s policy regarding carry-over of unused safe/sick time at the end of the employer’s calendar year; and
- If an employer uses a term other than “safe/sick time” or “safe and sick time” to describe leave required under ESSTA, a statement that such leave may be used in any way that complies with the law.
Employers must distribute written policies to all employees upon hire, within 14 days of when any changes to the policies go into effect, and upon employee request. Employers must also post and provide a notice of rights, published by DCWP, containing information on sick leave and paid prenatal leave.
Under DCWP’s amended rules, if an employee’s use of leave results in an absence of more than three workdays, employers can require an employee to submit reasonable documentation demonstrating that the employee’s use of leave was for an authorized purpose. This, however, is not addressed in and/or is contrary to New York state law, which could necessitate legal consultation in specific circumstances.
Per the amended rules, “unless otherwise in conflict with state or federal law or regulations, an employer shall not require an employee to use other leave in lieu of paid prenatal leave, exhaust other leave before using paid prenatal leave, or use or exhaust paid prenatal leave before using other leave.”
The new rules require employers to keep and maintain records for each employee with respect to safe/sick time and paid prenatal leave. The records must be maintained for three years and, in addition to any other statutory requirements, must include:
- The date and time of each instance of safe/sick time or paid prenatal leave used by the employee;
- The amount paid for each instance;
- For each pay period, the amount of safe/sick time accrued and used during the pay period, the employee’s total balance of accrued safe/sick time, and
- For each pay period, the amount of accrued safe/sick time available for use by the employee, the amount of paid prenatal leave used during the pay period, and the employee’s total balance of paid prenatal leave.
Employers must provide these records to DCWP upon request, and to employees within three days of the employee’s request.
For violations of the paid prenatal leave law, a current employee or former employee may be entitled to the following:
- The full amount of any underpayment of wages owed, plus interest;
- Liquidated damages up to 100% of the total amount of wages found to be due; and/or
- For prohibited retaliation, all appropriate relief, including injunctive relief, and liquidated damages up to $20,000.
For violations of the paid prenatal leave law, employers can be penalized for the following:
- Prohibited retaliation, which carries a civil penalty between $1,000 and $10,000 and
- Wage underpayment, which carries a penalty of up to $500.
How:
- Update your policies to comply with the law.
- Train managers and HR personnel on the law.
- Provide a notice of rights to employees upon hire and upon request, and post it in the workplace.
- Review your payroll systems for recordkeeping purposes in accordance with the law, to include new recordkeeping requirements as they relate to safe/sick time and paid prenatal leave.
- Consult legal counsel to navigate the legal landscape of New York state and New York City laws.
Additional Resources:
New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Rules
Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law: Notice of Employee Rights Website
Notice of Employee Rights: Safe and Sick Leave Poster Notice
Who: New York retail employers with 10 or more employees
When: Effective immediately for these provisions: workplace violence prevention plan, notice, policy, and training; effective January 1, 2027, for implementing the panic button (now called a silent response button)
On May 29, 2025, the New York Department of Labor launched a retail worker safety website that includes FAQs, a model policy, and model training related to the Retail Worker Safety Act, which imposes requirements on retail employers to improve workplace safety.
Employers must provide their retail workplace violence prevention policy to new employees upon hire and annually, in the employee’s primary language. The policy must include risk factors and prevention methods.
Employers must provide the interactive prevention training to all employees upon hire, along with a written copy of the training material. Employers with 50 or more employees must provide the training once a year, employers with fewer than 50 employees must provide the training every two years. The training must include emergency procedures, de-escalation tactics, and the use of security devices.
The effective date for the panic button, now referred to as a silent response button, is January 1, 2027, for employers with 500 or more retail employees. Employers can use the New York Department of Labor templates or their own, as long as they meet the minimum standards for compliance.
How:
- Assess workplace violence risks and review emergency procedures.
- Create a workplace violence prevention policy.
- Develop an interactive retail workplace violence prevention training.
- Plan for the installation of the silent response button by January 1, 2027.
Additional Resources:
Model Retail Workplace Violence Prevention Policy for Retail Employers in New York State
Retail Workplace Violence Prevention Training
