From Albany to Manhattan, employers in some of the nation’s largest jurisdictions are facing significant legal changes. Staying ahead of these developments is essential to maintaining compliance and minimizing risk. This update highlights several key employment law changes in New York state and New York City that employers should be aware of now.

NYC Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) Amendments Become Effective

Amendments to New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) became effective on February 22, 2026. The changes to the law require employers to provide 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time to eligible employees, in addition to the paid safe and sick time already provided for by ESSTA. The additional unpaid safe and sick time must be made available to employees immediately at hire, and at the start of subsequent years, but does not rollover from year-to-year. Employees may use the unpaid safe and sick time as soon as it is received.

Under the Amendments, if an employee requests time off covered by ESSTA, the employer is required to provide safe and sick time unless the employee has no available time banked or specifically requests to use other leave instead of safe and sick time.

In addition to providing unpaid safe and sick time, the Amendment also expands applicable uses of safe and sick time to also include certain caregiving circumstances, to attend legal proceedings related to securing housing, when the employee or a family member has been the victim of workplace violence and to cover various interruptions to workplaces, schools and childcare facilities caused by public disasters and public health emergencies.

The ESSTA Amendments were made to correspond with changes to NYC’s Temporary Schedule Change Act (TSCA), which has also been recently changed to remove requirements that employees be provided two TSCA days each year. While employees still have the right to request temporary schedule changes for personal reasons, employers are not mandated to accommodate such requests, but must respond to them as soon as practicable.

NY State Delays Implementation of Trapped at Work Act

On February 13, 2026, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed Amendments to the Trapped at Work Act (TAWA) into law, delaying the TAWA’s implementation and expanding exceptions to its applicability. TAWA will now go into effect on February 13, 2027. The law bans employers from imposing, as a condition of employment, agreements requiring employees to repay employers if they leave their position before a specific time. The law refers to these agreements as “employment promissory notes.”

Changes to law also clarify the types of agreements that employers are permitted to enter into with employees, which, among other examples, include:

  • Agreements for the repayment of any property the employee voluntarily bought or leased from the employer;
  • Certain repayment agreements related to bonuses, relocation assistance or other non-educational incentives and benefits not tied to job performance;
  • Voluntary tuition-repayment agreements subject to certain restrictions;
  • Agreements entered into as part of a collective-bargaining agreement.

The Amendments also remove language that previously required the subsidiaries of covered employers to comply with TAWA, and clarifies that both current and prospective employees may file a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor. Penalties range between $1,000 to $5,000 for violations.

Restrictions on Use of Credit History in Employment Decisions Become Effective in April (New York)

Amendments to New York State’s Fair Credit Reporting Act will soon prohibit employers from using an individual’s consumer credit history in employment decisions. New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the changes into law in December, but the Amendments will go into effect on April 18, 2026. The law will specifically restrict an employer from requesting or using the consumer credit information of job applicants and employees or otherwise discriminating against them based on such information related to hiring, compensation or the terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

Information employers are prohibited from seeking will include an individual’s credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity or payment history, as indicated by a consumer credit report, credit score or information an employer obtains directly from the individual.

The Amendment contains a number of exceptions. For example, employers are still permitted to use an applicant or employee’s credit history in the following circumstances:

  • An employer that is required by state or federal law (or by a self-regulatory organization as defined in section 3(a)(26) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) to use an individual’s consumer credit history for employment purposes; 
  • Persons applying for positions as or employed as peace officers or police officers, or in a position with a law enforcement or investigative function in a law enforcement agency; 
  • Persons in a position that is subject to background investigation by a state agency, provided, however, if the position is an appointed position in which a high degree of public trust; 
  • Persons in a position in which an employee is required to be bonded under state or federal law;
  • Persons in a position in which an employee is required to possess security clearance under federal law or the law of any state;
  • Persons in a non-clerical position having regular access to trade secrets, intelligence information or national security information; 
  • Persons in a position: (A) having signatory authority over third party funds or assets valued at ten thousand dollars or more; or (B) that involves a fiduciary responsibility to the employer with the authority to enter financial agreements valued at ten thousand dollars or more on behalf of the employer;
  • Persons in a position with regular duties that allow the employee to modify digital security systems established to prevent the unauthorized use of the employer’s or client’s networks or databases; or
  • Employers requesting, receiving or using credit information pursuant to a lawful subpoena, court order or law-enforcement investigation.

The Amendments make New York the eleventh state to ban the use of consumer credit history in employment decisions and align with restrictions already in effect in New York City.