If you work in New York City, you’re covered by not one but two sick leave laws—and most workers don’t realize it. New York State enacted its Paid Sick Leave Law in 2020, extending protections to private-sector workers across the state. But New York City has its own law—the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act, enforced under the city’s Protected Time Off Law—that goes significantly further. Understanding both layers of protection isn’t just useful; it could make a real difference when you or a family member gets sick, needs child care, or faces a personal safety crisis.
Here’s what you need to know.
The Basics: Two Laws, Two Sets of Protections
The New York State Paid Sick Leave Law (PSL) applies to all private-sector employees in the state, regardless of industry, occupation, part-time status, or whether they’re exempt from overtime. Federal, state, and local government employees are not covered, but employees of charter schools, private schools, and nonprofits are.
New York City’s Protected Time Off Law (often called the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act, or ESTA) applies to employees who work in NYC—even if their employer is headquartered elsewhere. So if your company is based in New Jersey but you regularly work shifts in the five boroughs, you’re covered by the NYC law. Private, nonprofit, and household employers (such as those who hire babysitters, housekeepers, or companions) are all included.
The key principle: when city and state laws overlap, the more generous protections apply. New York City’s law consistently provides more than the state minimum, which means NYC workers benefit from both frameworks simultaneously.
How Much Leave Are You Entitled To?
Both laws base the amount of leave on employer size, but NYC’s structure is more complex—and more protective.
Under the New York State law, employees accrue leave at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked, starting from their first day of employment. The total amount of paid leave available depends on employer size:
- Employers with 0–4 employees and net income of $1 million or less: up to 40 hours of unpaid leave per year
- Employers with 0–4 employees and net income over $1 million: up to 40 hours of paid leave per year
- Employers with 5–99 employees: up to 40 hours of paid leave per year
- Employers with 100 or more employees: up to 56 hours of paid leave per year
NYC’s law adds a significant layer: in addition to accrued paid leave, employees receive 32 hours of unpaid protected time off that is immediately available from day one of employment. There’s no waiting period, no accrual calculation required—those 32 hours are there on your first day.
So a full-time employee working for a mid-sized NYC employer (5–99 employees) is entitled to 32 immediately available unpaid hours plus up to 40 accrued paid hours per calendar year. For employees at large employers (100+), the paid accrual goes up to 56 hours.
The state law also allows employers to front-load the full annual amount at the start of each calendar year, rather than tracking accruals hour by hour. NYC’s law permits this as well. Employers who choose front-loading must still track how much leave each employee has used.
What Can You Use It For?
Both laws cover what you’d expect—using leave when you’re sick, injured, or need a medical diagnosis, or when you’re caring for a family member who is. But the list of qualifying reasons is broader than many people realize, and NYC’s law is especially expansive.
Under both the state and city laws, employees can use protected leave for:
- Their own physical or mental illness, injury, or health condition—even if not yet diagnosed
- Medical diagnosis, treatment, or preventive care for themselves or a family member
- Safe leave: situations involving domestic violence, family offenses, sexual offenses, stalking, or human trafficking
The safe leave category is one of the most important and least understood provisions. Under both laws, employees who have experienced—or whose family members have experienced—domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, or human trafficking can use their leave to take safety measures. This includes meeting with an attorney or social worker, filing a police report, seeking services from a domestic violence shelter or rape crisis center, relocating, meeting with a district attorney’s office, enrolling children in a new school, and more. Employees are not required to prove that a crime was reported or prosecuted in order to use this leave.
NYC’s law goes further still, covering additional reasons the state law does not:
- Child care disruptions—including school holidays and unexpected closures
- Caring for a family or household member with a disability
- Attending public benefits or housing appointments and hearings
- Staying home during extreme weather events or other public emergencies
That last point—public emergencies—became especially relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic and remains important for workers who may be unable to safely travel to or from work during major weather events like those New York City has seen in recent years.
Who Counts as a “Family Member”?
Both laws define “family member” broadly. The state law includes an employee’s child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild, grandparent, and the child or parent of a domestic partner. NYC’s definition is at least as broad and also extends protections to household members—people who share the employee’s home, even if not related by blood or marriage.
Do You Have to Explain Why You’re Taking Leave?
Under both laws, you generally do not need to provide your employer with specific details about why you are using protected time off. You may be required to give advance notice if the need is foreseeable—for instance, a scheduled medical appointment or a court date. But for unexpected situations like sudden illness or a child care emergency, no advance notice is required.
Documentation can only be required by NYC employers if you miss four or more consecutive workdays. If you’re out for three days or fewer in a row, your employer cannot require you to provide a doctor’s note or any other documentation. Under the state law, employers may also request documentation, but any policy requiring it must be communicated to employees in writing before it applies.
Anti-Retaliation: What Your Employer Cannot Do
Both the state and city laws include strong anti-retaliation protections. Your employer cannot punish, discipline, demote, reduce your hours, cut your pay, terminate, or otherwise penalize you for requesting or using protected leave.
NYC’s law spells this out in particular detail. Retaliation includes not only obvious actions like firing or demotion, but also threats and intimidation, blacklisting, informing another employer about your use of leave, and—critically—maintaining an attendance control policy that counts protected time off as an absence that could lead to discipline. Penalizing an employee for failing to meet a productivity quota because of their use of protected leave is also considered retaliation.
Under NYC’s law, retaliation protections apply regardless of your immigration status. An employer cannot take action against you based on your perceived immigration status or work authorization in connection with your exercise of leave rights.
If you believe you’ve faced retaliation under the state law, you can contact the New York State Department of Labor’s Anti-Retaliation Unit at 888-52-LABOR. Under NYC’s law, you can file a complaint with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) at nyc.gov/workers or by calling 311. Complaints to DCWP are kept confidential to the extent possible, and you can even file anonymously.
Employer Recordkeeping and Your Right to Information
Both laws require employers to maintain payroll records related to sick leave. Under state law, records must be kept for six years and must reflect the amount of leave accrued and used by each employee on a weekly basis. Upon request, employers must provide employees with a summary of their accrued and used leave within three business days.
Under NYC’s law, employers must provide employees with their protected time off balance—both accrued and used—on each pay statement. This means you shouldn’t have to ask; the information should appear regularly with your paycheck.
NYC employers are also required to provide employees with a written protected time off policy. This policy must be distributed personally when employment begins and updated within 14 days of any policy change. Posting a notice at the worksite is not sufficient—the policy must actually be given to each employee.
The Bottom Line
New York City workers are among the most protected in the country when it comes to sick and safe leave. The state law provides a meaningful floor, but NYC’s Protected Time Off Law raises that floor considerably—with immediately available unpaid hours, a broader list of qualifying reasons, stronger documentation rules in employees’ favor, and robust anti-retaliation enforcement.
If you work in New York City, take the time to understand both sets of rights. Ask your employer for a copy of their written protected time off policy. Check your pay stubs to confirm your leave balance is being tracked. And if something seems wrong—whether a denied leave request, a suspicious schedule change after you called in sick, or a missing policy—know that there are agencies ready to help.
You have the right to leave. And you have the right to use it without fear.
