New York City Council Acts on Pay Data Reporting, Safe and Sick Leave Protections

Recent New York City Council actions will increase obligations for New York City employers in the near future: Int. Nos. 0982-2024 and 0984-2024 would require certain private employers to submit annual pay and demographic data, to be used in a pay equity analysis, while amendments to the city’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act, entering into force February 2026, will expand employee entitlements and align local requirements with state law.

COUNCIL PASSES AMENDMENTS ON REQUIRED EMPLOYER PAY DATA REPORTING

On October 9, 2025, the New York City Council passed two bills, Int. No. 0982-2024 and Int. No. 0984-2024, that would require private employers with 200 or more employees within New York City to submit annual pay and demographic data for their New York City employees.

New York City will then use the data to conduct a pay equity analysis to identify any disparities related to gender, race, and ethnicity in the workforce. The bills passed with an overwhelming majority, one sufficient to survive Mayor Adams’s vetoes of the bills on November 7. The City Council will officially receive the vetoes during its Stated Meeting on November 12 and will have 30 days thereafter to override them.

Int. No. 0982-2024

Pursuant to Int. No. 0982-2024, the New York City mayor must designate the city agency that will be tasked with collecting pay equity data within one year from the enactment of the law. Once the agency is designated, the agency will have one year to develop a standardized form for employers to report demographic and pay data.

Much like the pay data collection added to the federal EEO-1 report in 2017 and 2018 (known as “Component 2” reporting), covered employers in New York City must report data that includes employees’ salaries and rates of pay broken down by job title, sex, and race/ethnicity. The agency to be designated by the mayor will be authorized to adopt modifications to the reporting requirements, including inclusion of reporting options for different gender identities.

Within one year of the designated agency’s publication of the standardized form, and annually thereafter, private employers with at least 200 employees (including full-time, part-time, and temporary employees) in New York City will be required to report the necessary demographic and pay data to the agency.

While employers have the option to submit the report anonymously, they will also have to separately submit a signed statement to the designated agency that identifies the employer and confirms the submission and accuracy of the report.

Employers will be subject to the following civil penalties if they violate the law:

• For the first offense, a covered employer will receive only a written warning and an opportunity to cure by submitting the required data within 30 days. If the employer fails to cure, they will be subject to a civil penalty of $1,000.
• For subsequent offenses, a covered employer will be subject to a civil penalty of $5,000.

The designated agency will publish an annual list on its website identifying covered employers that have not timely submitted a pay report after the 30-day cure period.

Int. No. 0984-2024

Within one year of the employers’ submission of the required data, and annually thereafter, the designated agency will have to conduct a pay equity study in connection with the New York City Commission on Gender Equity and other designated agencies to determine any disparities in compensation based on gender, race, or ethnicity, and identify industries with prevalent disparities.

Within six months, the designated agency will present the findings to the Council and mayor with recommendations for addressing any identified disparities. The designated agency will also publish the data in the aggregate in a manner that does not reveal a covered employer’s or employee’s identifying information.

Conclusion

In passing these laws, New York City would join California, Illinois, and Massachusetts in requiring employers to report pay data. Each jurisdiction has different reporting requirements, and multistate employers operating in these jurisdictions will need to understand the varying requirements to ensure compliance.

In preparation for the reporting requirements, New York City employers should carefully evaluate and audit their compensation practices and decisions to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local law.

COUNCIL EXPANDS EARNED SAFE AND SICK TIME ACT

The New York City Council approved significant amendments to the city’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), expanding employee entitlements and aligning local requirements with state law. The bill, Local Law 145, became law on October 25, 2025 and will take effect on February 22, 2026.

Under the current law, ESSTA requires employers to provide employees with 40 or 56 hours of paid safe/sick leave annually, depending on employer size. The amended law introduces several key changes.

First, New York City employers must provide employees with 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick leave, replacing the two days that were previously available under the Temporary Schedule Change Act (TSCA). The law also expands the uses of leave under ESSTA, codifies the state’s paid prenatal leave entitlement, and clarifies how collective bargaining agreements can waive certain ESSTA obligations.

Increased Unpaid Leave

The most notable change for many employers is the creation of a new 32-hour unpaid safe/sick time entitlement. Employers must frontload this time at the start of employment and at the beginning of each calendar year. Unlike the existing paid ESSTA accruals, these unpaid hours do not carry over to the following year.

Employers who are already providing the required 40 or 56 hours of paid leave plus an additional 32 hours of paid or unpaid leave will not have to provide an additional 32-hour unpaid sick/safe time entitlement; however, the parameters of the additional leave must comply with ESSTA use requirements.

This requirement effectively adds a third leave category for New York City employers: (1) paid ESSTA hours based on employer size, (2) the new unpaid 32-hour bank, and (3) the 20 hours of paid prenatal leave. Each category has unique rules on frontloading, carryover, and usage.

ESSTA Use Expansion

The amendments broaden the list of qualifying reasons for which employees may use both paid and unpaid safe and sick time. In addition to the existing uses, employees may now take leave for the following reasons:

• To provide care for a minor child or care recipient
• To attend to issues surrounding subsistence benefits and housing (such as preparing for and attending legal proceedings) for themselves, family members, or care recipients
• To respond to a public disaster
• To respond to workplace violence

These changes expand the scope of ESSTA to cover family- and safety-related circumstances that were previously outside its reach.

Prenatal Leave Codified

The City Council formally incorporated the state’s paid prenatal leave requirement into local law, which took effect January 1, 2025. As outlined in our prior LawFlash, New York State requires employers to provide 20 hours of job-protected paid prenatal leave during any 52-week period. The prenatal leave is available on the first day of employment and may be used in hourly increments for qualifying pregnancy-related medical services such as examinations, testing, or treatment.

New York City’s amendments align ESSTA with this state-level requirement, clarifying that paid prenatal leave is distinct from safe and sick leave.

Collective Bargaining Agreement Exception

The amendments outline the circumstances under which a collective bargaining agreement may waive ESSTA requirements for a unionized workforce. A collective bargaining agreement may waive the law’s provisions only if it expressly does so and provides “superior or comparable benefits.” However, unpaid time off does not constitute a comparable benefit for purposes of the paid safe/sick leave or paid prenatal leave entitlements.

Alignment with the Temporary Schedule Change Act

Local Law 145 also amends the TSCA to align the act with the city’s safe and sick leave requirements. Under the old TSCA, employees were entitled to two business days per year of approved temporary schedule changes for personal events. The amendments eliminate this automatic entitlement.

Employees retain the right to request schedule changes, but employers are no longer required to grant them. Employers must respond “as soon as practicable” and may offer an alternative temporary change.

What’s Next?

Employers in New York City should consider taking the following steps in anticipation of the ESSTA amendments’ February 22 effective date:

• Confirm that paid and unpaid time off policies satisfy the new 32-hour unpaid leave requirement and that employees may use such leave for all ESSTA-covered purposes
• Train supervisors, managers, compliance personnel, human resources, and legal professionals on the unpaid leave requirement, expanded qualifying uses, and prenatal leave rules
• For future negotiations of collective bargaining agreements, ensure there is a proper waiver included
• Monitor for additional rulemaking and guidance from Department of Consumer and Worker Protection on implementation of the amendments