New York City employers should heed two important new legislative developments coming out of City Council. 

First, the City amended its Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESSTA) and its Temporary Schedule Change Act (“TSCA”) to establish a new unpaid leave requirement in addition to existing paid leave requirements and to expand the permissible uses for employee sick/safe leave (among other changes, as discussed below).  These changes will take effect on February 22, 2026. 

More than 5 years from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York’s COVID-19 paid sick leave law has now officially expired as of July 31, 2025. The COVID-19 paid sick leave law, which was enacted during pandemic-related lockdowns in March 2020, had required most New York employers to provide paid, job-protected COVID-19 sick leave to employees who were under a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19 (or who were caring for family members who were under such orders).  Although COVID-19 unfortunately remains a reality, the pandemic phase (and related employee leave protections) have now come and gone.  

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a memorandum to all Federal Agencies providing guidance clarifying the application of Federal discrimination law to DEI programs and offering best practices for program compliance.  The memorandum, Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination (the “Guidance”), ostensibly focused on entities receiving federal funding, fleshes out what the Trump Administration meant when it referred to “illegal DEI” in a series of Executive Orders issued earlier this year, and is far more expansive than the guidance the EEOC/DOJ jointly issued back in March (which we discussed here).  While the DOJ confirmed that the Guidance is non-binding (e.g. the best practices it offers are not mandatory), employers, whether they do business with the federal government or not, should pay very close attention to its overall message. We summarize the guidance below. 

Recent amendments to New York City’s Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESSTA) went into effect this month. Consistent with recent amendments to New York State law (which we discussed here and here), the City’s amended leave law now explicitly requires NYC employers to provide up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave for eligible employees within a 52-week period and seeks to integrate related paid prenatal leave obligations into the existing ESSTA compliance framework for safe/sick time. The amendments also clarify the available penalties, remedies, and enforcement mechanisms for violations of the paid prenatal leave requirements.