New York City Labor Laws 2026: HR Compliance Guide

Accurate as of May 2, 2026. This guide is informational and not legal advice. For specific situations, consult licensed New York employment counsel.

New York City runs the most layered employment law framework of any U.S. city. Federal rules apply, New York State rules apply, and on top of that the City Council and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) add a third layer covering everything from sick leave to fast food scheduling to bias audits of hiring software. The result is a compliance map where the same job in Manhattan and Mount Vernon can have meaningfully different rules.

February 22, 2026 is the date HR teams in NYC need circled. That is when amendments to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) and the Temporary Schedule Change Act take effect, adding a brand new 32-hour bank of unpaid, immediately available leave on day one of employment, codifying paid prenatal leave inside the city ordinance, and converting the prior right to two temporary schedule changes into a right to request. Add the new $17 minimum wage, the $1,275 weekly exempt threshold, the consumer credit history ban arriving April 18, the Trapped at Work Act outlawing training repayment notes, the $22.13 minimum pay rate for app-based delivery workers, and a designated agency for citywide pay data reporting due by December 4, and 2026 is the busiest year for NYC employment compliance in more than a decade.

This guide covers what HR and people leaders operating in the five boroughs actually need to know in 2026: wage and hour rules, the full ESSTA framework as amended, the Fair Workweek and Just Cause statutes that apply to retail and fast food, the New York City Human Rights Law, the Fair Chance Act, the Stop Sexual Harassment Act, the Workers' Bill of Rights notice, AEDT bias audit requirements for hiring tools, the Freelance Isn't Free Act, the Lactation Accommodation Law, and the new pay data reporting framework. For HR teams that handle complaints, accommodations, and investigations across NYC offices, AllVoices is an employee relations platform built to keep that documentation airtight.

The 2026 New York City Employment Law Updates HR Teams Should Know First

Most of the action this year is at the City and State level, with effective dates clustered around January 1 and February 22. The shortlist:

ESSTA expansion (effective February 22, 2026). Adds 32 hours of unpaid, immediately available safe and sick time on hire and at the start of each calendar year, on top of existing paid sick leave. Codifies 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave inside the city ordinance.
Temporary Schedule Change Act amendment (effective February 22, 2026). Replaces the prior right to two paid temporary schedule changes per year with a right to request, satisfied by responding as soon as practicable.
Updated Notice of Employee Rights (deadline March 24, 2026). All NYC employers must distribute the updated DCWP notice to current employees by this date and include it at hire going forward.
NYC minimum wage at $17.00 per hour (effective January 1, 2026). Same rate applies in Long Island and Westchester. Tipped food service rate is $11.35 with a $5.65 tip credit.
Exempt salary threshold at $1,275 per week / $66,300 per year (effective January 1, 2026). Required for executive and administrative exemptions in NYC.
Trapped at Work Act (effective December 19, 2025, with a chapter amendment under consideration). Bans employment promissory notes and training repayment agreements that condition employment on staying for a set period.
Consumer credit history ban (effective April 18, 2026). State law prohibits most employers from requesting or using consumer credit history in hiring, compensation, or terms of employment.
App-based delivery worker minimum pay rate (effective April 1, 2026). Increases to $22.13 per hour, an inflation adjustment under DCWP rules. Local Law 124 expands the rate to grocery delivery.
NYC pay data reporting (designation deadline December 4, 2026). The City must designate an agency by this date; covered employers (200+ NYC employees) will report job category, race or ethnicity, and gender data once a fillable form publishes.
NYC Secure Choice retirement registration window (March 2026). State law requires employers with 10+ employees and no existing plan to register or certify exemption.
Disparate impact codified in the State Human Rights Law (effective for claims accruing on or after December 19, 2025). SB S8338 codifies disparate impact liability under the SHRL.

The detail on each, plus all the existing NYC obligations that did not change, follows below.

New York City Wage and Hour Rules in 2026

What is the New York City minimum wage in 2026?

The NYC minimum wage is $17.00 per hour, effective January 1, 2026. The same rate applies in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties. Elsewhere in New York State, the rate is $16.00 per hour.

Beginning January 1, 2027, future increases will be tied to the three-year average of a regional consumer price index, so the rate will move with inflation rather than scheduled bumps.

Tipped wage rates in NYC

For tipped employees in NYC, the cash wage and tip credit depend on the worker's industry:

Tipped food service workers: $11.35 per hour cash wage, with a $5.65 tip credit, totaling the $17.00 minimum.
Tipped service employees: $14.15 per hour cash wage, with a $2.85 tip credit, totaling $17.00.

If tips do not bring the worker to $17.00 per hour for the pay period, the employer must make up the difference. The fast food industry has its own straight $17.00 minimum with no tip credit.

What is the 2026 exempt salary threshold for NYC?

For the executive and administrative exemptions, the New York minimum salary in NYC is $1,275.00 per week, which annualizes to $66,300.00. This threshold also covers Long Island and Westchester. The rest of the state sits at $1,199.10 per week ($62,353.20).

For the professional exemption, New York has not set a state-level salary, so the federal threshold of $684.00 per week applies. Reclassify any salaried exempt worker who falls below the NYC threshold or owe overtime.

Overtime in New York

New York follows the federal weekly overtime rule: time and a half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek for non-exempt employees. There is no daily overtime statute. Residential employees get overtime after 44 hours in a week. Specific industries (hospitality, building service, agriculture) have wage orders with their own quirks.

Spread of hours pay

New York requires an extra hour of pay at minimum wage when an employee's spread of hours (the time from the start to the end of the workday, including breaks) exceeds 10 hours. This applies in the hospitality industry to all employees and elsewhere to employees earning at or near minimum wage. For NYC employers, plan to add the spread-of-hours hour to anyone splitting a shift across more than a 10-hour window.

Wage statement and pay notice rules

New York Labor Law Section 195 requires every employer in NYC to give each new hire a wage notice in English and the employee's primary language at hire, listing rate of pay, overtime rate, regular pay day, employer's legal name and address, and allowances claimed. The notice must be acknowledged in writing.

Each pay stub must include hours worked, rates, gross and net pay, deductions, allowances, and the dates covered by the pay period. Wage notice violations carry damages of up to $50 per workday up to $5,000 per employee, and pay stub violations carry damages of up to $250 per workday up to $5,000 per employee.

Final Paychecks and Wage Payment Timing

When are final wages due in NYC?

Final wages, including any earned commissions, are due no later than the regular payday for the pay period in which the separation occurred. This is the rule whether the employee quits or is terminated. Some occupations (manual workers, clerical and other workers, commission salespersons) are governed by frequency-of-pay statutes that require weekly or semi-monthly payment, and a delayed final paycheck can create class-action liability under those frequency rules.

PTO at separation

New York does not require employers to pay out unused vacation or PTO at separation, unless company policy or a collective bargaining agreement says otherwise. Whatever the policy says, follow it. The State Department of Labor will enforce a written policy as if it were law.

New York City's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act in 2026

ESSTA is the longest-running NYC-specific obligation, and the version that takes effect February 22, 2026 has the most significant changes since the law was first passed. The law now operates as four overlapping leave banks: paid safe/sick time, paid prenatal personal leave, the new 32 hours of unpaid safe/sick time, and the underlying 40 hours of state-level paid sick leave.

How much paid safe and sick leave do NYC employers owe?

The paid amount is tied to employer size:

Employers with 100 or more employees: up to 56 hours of paid safe and sick leave per calendar year.
Employers with 5 to 99 employees: up to 40 hours of paid safe and sick leave per calendar year.
Employers with 4 or fewer employees and net income over $1 million: up to 40 hours of paid leave per year.
Employers with 4 or fewer employees and net income under $1 million: up to 40 hours of unpaid leave per year.

Domestic worker rules are separate. Any employee in NYC counts toward the size threshold whether full-time or part-time.

What is the new 32-hour unpaid bank effective February 22, 2026?

In addition to existing paid leave, NYC employers must provide a separate 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time that is available immediately on hire and replenished at the start of each calendar year. There is no accrual or waiting period. The new hire walks in with all 32 hours usable on day one.

This 32-hour bank replaces the two paid temporary schedule change days that the Temporary Schedule Change Act used to provide. Now the schedule change framework is right-to-request, and these unpaid hours fill the gap.

Accrual and frontloading

Paid safe and sick time accrues at one hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers can frontload the full annual amount on January 1 instead. Carryover up to the annual cap is allowed; frontloading allows employers to skip the carryover requirement. Employees can begin using accrued time after 120 days of employment, but the new 32-hour unpaid bank is available immediately.

Permissible uses

An employee can use safe and sick time for the employee's or a covered family member's mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, including diagnosis, care, or treatment; preventive care; closure of the place of business or the child's school due to a public health emergency; reasons related to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking; care for a minor child or a care recipient; attending legal proceedings to obtain subsistence benefits or housing; and matters arising from a public disaster or workplace violence.

Family member is broadly defined and covers blood and affinity relationships, including any individual whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship.

Paid prenatal personal leave under ESSTA

New York State enacted 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave per 52-week period effective January 1, 2025. The ESSTA amendments now codify the obligation in NYC ordinance with additional policy, posting, and pay stub requirements.

Key rules for the prenatal bank:

Amount: 20 hours of paid time per 52-week period.
Use: any healthcare service received by the employee during pregnancy or related to pregnancy, including physical exams, end-of-pregnancy care, and fertility treatments.
Separate bank: employers cannot require employees to exhaust other leave first.
Pay rate: employee's regular rate or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater.
Increments: usable in hourly increments.

Employers must update written policies and pay stubs to track prenatal leave separately from regular sick time.

Notice and posting requirements

DCWP issued an updated Notice of Employee Rights for the 2026 amendments. Every NYC employer must distribute the updated notice to current employees no later than March 24, 2026, and provide it to new hires going forward. The notice must be in English and in any language spoken as a primary language by 5% or more of the workforce, when DCWP publishes it in that language.

Documentation and request rules

An employer can require reasonable documentation only when an employee uses safe or sick time for more than three consecutive workdays. Documentation cannot reveal the underlying medical condition or details of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or trafficking. The documentation can address only the need for the leave.

Retaliation for requesting or using safe or sick time is prohibited. ESSTA carries restitution, civil penalties up to $500 per violation per employee for failure to provide leave, $50 per employee plus $500 per business per quarter for unlawful policy or recordkeeping issues, and triple damages or actual damages for unlawful retaliation.

The Temporary Schedule Change Act After 2026

The Temporary Schedule Change Act used to give NYC employees the right to two temporary schedule changes per year for personal events without losing pay. As of February 22, 2026, that obligation flips to a right to request.

What changed

Old rule: employer had to grant up to two temporary schedule changes (lasting up to one business day each) per year for qualifying personal reasons.
New rule: employee has a right to request a temporary schedule change. The employer must respond as soon as practicable. The employer can grant or deny, can offer an alternative, and the employee is not obligated to accept the alternative.

Why the change

The Council traded the prior scheduling obligation for the new 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick time. Workers walk into employment with a leave bank they can use for the same kinds of personal events that used to trigger a TSCA request. Employers get a less prescriptive scheduling rule. The combined effect is more leave on day one and more flexibility on the scheduling side.

NYC Fair Workweek Law: Fast Food and Retail

The Fair Workweek Law applies to fast food employers and retail employers in NYC. Fast food rules are dramatically more prescriptive; retail rules focus on schedule notice and on-call shift restrictions.

Who is covered as a fast food employer?

A fast food establishment is a business that is part of a chain, primarily serves food and beverages, offers limited service (no table service), and is one of 30 or more such establishments nationally, including franchise locations. The franchisee and franchisor can both be liable under DCWP rules.

Fast food schedule notice and predictability pay

Fast food employers must:

Provide written schedules at least 14 days in advance of the start of the schedule.
Pay a schedule change premium of $10 to $75 when the schedule changes within the 14-day window. The amount depends on how late the change is made and whether hours were added or subtracted.
Pay a $100 premium for any "clopening" shift (closing followed by opening with less than 11 hours between) and obtain the worker's written consent.
Offer additional shifts to existing employees first before hiring new workers. This is the access-to-hours rule.
Provide an estimate of hours and the days, times, and locations of work at the time of hire (the good faith estimate).

Just cause for fast food workers

NYC ended at-will employment for fast food workers. A fast food employer cannot fire or reduce hours by more than 15% without just cause or a bona fide economic reason. Just cause means the employee failed to perform satisfactorily or committed misconduct that was harmful to the employer's legitimate business interests.

Other key rules:

Progressive discipline required except for egregious misconduct or performance failures.
Written explanation of the precise reasons for the discharge, due within five days.
Layoffs in reverse seniority when the discharge is for bona fide economic reasons.
30-day probationary period exception applies for new hires.
Right to arbitrate a wrongful discharge under the law.

Bringing the fast food just cause workflow into the rest of the people operations function (investigations, accommodation requests, complaint intake) is where a unified case management platform earns its keep.

Retail Fair Workweek rules

Retail employers (with 20 or more employees in NYC working at retail) must:

Provide written schedules at least 72 hours in advance of the first scheduled shift.
Avoid on-call shifts entirely.
Avoid cancelling shifts within 72 hours of the start.
Avoid scheduling additional shifts within 72 hours of the start unless the worker consents in writing.

Fair Workweek violations carry restitution, civil penalties, and DCWP enforcement actions. Penalties scale by the number of violations and the size of the employer.

The New York City Human Rights Law: Broader Than the State and Federal Frameworks

The NYC Human Rights Law (Title 8 of the Administrative Code) is the most expansive municipal anti-discrimination statute in the country. NYC courts have long held it must be construed independently from federal and state law and "as broadly as possible."

Who is covered?

The NYCHRL applies to employers with 4 or more employees, including independent contractors when calculating the threshold. For sexual harassment claims specifically, the NYCHRL applies to all employers regardless of size.

Protected characteristics

The NYCHRL prohibits discrimination based on age, race, creed, color, national origin, gender (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, marital status, partnership status, sexual orientation, alienage or citizenship status, military status, pregnancy, caregiver status, status as a victim of domestic violence or stalking or sex offenses, arrest or conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, height and weight, salary history, reproductive health decisions, and consumer credit history (for actions on or after April 18, 2026 per the 2025 state amendment that aligns with NYC).

Reasonable accommodation as a cooperative dialogue

The NYCHRL requires employers to engage in a cooperative dialogue in writing with employees who request accommodations for disability, pregnancy, religion, or status as a victim of domestic violence. The cooperative dialogue process must include a written final determination identifying any accommodation granted or denied.

Failure to engage in the cooperative dialogue is itself a violation, even when the underlying accommodation request might have been denied lawfully.

Disparate impact under the State Human Rights Law

Senate Bill S8338, signed in 2025, codifies disparate impact liability under the NYS Human Rights Law for claims accruing on or after December 19, 2025. An employer can be liable for a facially neutral policy or practice with a disparate impact on a protected class even without discriminatory intent, unless the employer can demonstrate the policy is job-related and consistent with business necessity, and the plaintiff cannot show a less discriminatory alternative.

Accommodation requests as protected activity

Senate Bill S3398 amended the SHRL to expressly recognize a request for an accommodation as protected activity, prohibiting retaliation on that basis. The change brings the SHRL into alignment with federal ADA standards and the NYCHRL.

Damages and procedural advantages for plaintiffs

The NYCHRL allows compensatory damages (no cap), punitive damages, attorney's fees, and civil penalties. Aiding and abetting individual liability extends to managers, supervisors, and HR professionals personally. NYC HRL claims have a three-year statute of limitations and can be filed at the NYC Commission on Human Rights or in state court.

NYC Pay Transparency and Pay Equity

Salary range disclosure in job postings

New York Labor Law Section 194-B applies to private employers with 4 or more employees for jobs performed at least partly in New York or remote jobs reporting to a NYC supervisor or office. Job postings, promotion postings, and transfer opportunity postings must include:

A good-faith minimum and maximum salary or hourly range.
A job description if one exists.

The range must be a true good-faith estimate of what the employer is willing to pay. Open-ended ranges (such as "$100,000 and up") do not satisfy the law.

NYC pay data reporting

In November 2025, the NYC Council passed legislation requiring covered employers to submit annual pay data reports. Coverage and timing:

Covered employers: 200 or more employees in NYC, including full-time, part-time, and temporary workers.
What is reported: compensation data broken down by job category, race or ethnicity, and gender, modeled on the prior federal EEO-1 Component 2 framework.
What is not reported: individual employee names or identifying information.
Timeline: the City must designate an enforcing agency by December 4, 2026; that agency then has one year to develop a fillable form; reporting begins one year after the form publishes, so first reports are likely in 2028.
Penalties: $1,000 first offense, $5,000 each subsequent offense, after a 30-day cure period.

Even though reports are not yet due, employers should start auditing their job classification and compensation data now.

Equal pay rules

New York Labor Law Section 194 prohibits pay differentials based on protected characteristics for substantially similar work. Permissible differentials include seniority systems, merit systems, systems that measure earnings by quantity or quality, or a bona fide factor other than the protected status (such as education, training, or experience). Employers cannot prohibit employees from discussing wages.

Salary history ban

Employers in New York cannot ask job applicants about salary history or rely on salary history to determine an offer. NYC has had this rule since 2017; the state followed in 2020.

The NYC Fair Chance Act: Criminal History and Hiring

The Fair Chance Act prohibits NYC employers with 4 or more employees from inquiring into a job applicant's criminal history before extending a conditional employment offer.

What employers cannot do pre-offer

Include criminal record questions on a job application.
Ask about criminal history during a pre-offer interview.
Run a publicly available background check before extending the offer.
State in a job posting that applicants with criminal records will not be considered.

What employers can do post-offer

Once a conditional offer is made, an employer can ask about and consider criminal history. To withdraw the offer based on the criminal history, the employer must conduct an analysis under Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law and the eight Fair Chance factors. The factors include the public policy of New York to encourage employment of people with criminal records, the duties of the position, the relationship of the offense to the duties, the time elapsed, the seriousness of the offense, and rehabilitation evidence.

Notice and reasoning requirements

The employer must provide the applicant with a written copy of the analysis, a copy of any background check report, and at least five business days to respond before finalizing the decision. Failing to follow the procedure is independently actionable.

Pending arrests and sealed records

The 2021 amendments expanded protection to cover pending arrests and certain sealed convictions. Most non-felony marijuana convictions and youthful offender adjudications cannot be considered.

The Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act

Training requirements

Private employers with 15 or more employees (including interns) in NYC must provide annual interactive sexual harassment prevention training to any employee who works more than 80 hours in a calendar year and has been employed for at least 90 days. Independent contractors who meet the same threshold also count for the headcount and must be trained.

Training must include:

An explanation of sexual harassment as a form of unlawful discrimination.
A description of what constitutes sexual harassment with examples.
An explanation of internal complaint processes.
A description of the federal, state, and local complaint processes.
A discussion of bystander intervention.
Information on retaliation protections.
Specific responsibilities for supervisors and managers.

Posting and notice

Every NYC employer (regardless of size) must conspicuously post the NYC Commission on Human Rights' anti-sexual harassment poster in both English and Spanish. Every employer must also distribute a factsheet on sexual harassment to each new hire, which can be included in the employee handbook.

Statute of limitations

NYC and state amendments have extended the statute of limitations for harassment claims to three years at the City and State level. Settlements cannot include nondisclosure agreements covering sexual harassment unless the complainant requests confidentiality and is given 21 days to consider and 7 days to revoke.

Local Law 144: Bias Audits for Automated Employment Decision Tools

NYC was the first U.S. jurisdiction to regulate AI in hiring. Local Law 144 (effective in enforcement on July 5, 2023) prohibits employers and employment agencies from using an automated employment decision tool (AEDT) in hiring or promotion unless three conditions are met.

What counts as an AEDT?

An AEDT is a computational process derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or AI that issues a simplified output (score, classification, or recommendation) used to substantially assist or replace discretionary decision making in employment.

The three compliance requirements

Bias audit: the AEDT must be subjected to a bias audit by an independent auditor within the prior 12 months. The audit must test for disparate impact across sex, race, and ethnicity.
Public summary: the audit summary must be publicly posted on the employer's website.
Notice to candidates: the employer must notify any candidate or employee residing in NYC at least 10 business days before using the AEDT, including the data collected and the source of the data.

Enforcement

DCWP enforces. Civil penalties run between $500 for a first violation and up to $1,500 for subsequent violations, per day, per AEDT.

If your hiring stack includes resume screening, video interviewing analysis, or any algorithmic ranking, audit the vendor and confirm they have a current bias audit you can post.

The NYC Workers' Bill of Rights Notice

Effective July 1, 2024, every NYC employer must distribute and post the Workers' Bill of Rights notice developed by DCWP in coordination with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Commission on Human Rights.

Distribution and posting

Provide a copy to each existing employee (deadline July 1, 2024 for employees as of that date).
Provide a copy to each new hire on the first day of employment.
Post conspicuously in a workplace area accessible to employees.
Post on the employer's intranet or website if the employer commonly communicates with employees that way.

Languages

Employers must provide the notice in English and in any language spoken as a primary language by at least 5% of the workforce, when DCWP has published the notice in that language. DCWP has published the notice in over a dozen languages.

Penalty

Failure to comply carries a $500 penalty, with a 30-day cure period after the first complaint.

NYC Lactation Accommodation Requirements

NYC employers with 4 or more employees must provide a lactation room, paid break time, and a written lactation accommodation policy.

Paid break time

Employers must provide 30 minutes of paid break time for an employee to express breast milk during the workday. Beyond the paid 30 minutes, the employer must allow the employee to use existing paid break time or meal time.

Lactation room

The lactation room must be a sanitary place (not a bathroom) shielded from view and free from intrusion, with a chair, a flat surface, an electrical outlet, nearby running water, and refrigeration suitable for storing breast milk.

Written policy and posting

The written lactation policy must explain how to request a room, guarantee a response within five business days, address simultaneous requests, and outline the cooperative dialogue if accommodation creates undue hardship. Effective May 8, 2025, NYC employers are required to physically and electronically post the lactation accommodation policy in the workplace and on the intranet.

The Freelance Isn't Free Act

NYC enacted the original Freelance Isn't Free Act in 2016. New York State adopted a statewide version that took effect August 28, 2024, modeled on the NYC ordinance and expanding it. NYC employers comply when they meet the state-level requirements.

Written contracts required

Whenever a hiring party engages a freelance worker for services valued at $800 or more (alone or aggregated over 120 days), the parties must enter a written contract that includes:

Names and mailing addresses of both parties.
An itemization of services to be provided.
The value of each service.
The rate and method of compensation.
The date the hiring party must pay (or the mechanism for determining it).
The date by which the freelance worker must submit a list of services rendered to meet internal processing deadlines.

Payment timing

Payment must be made by the date specified in the contract or, absent a contractual date, no later than 30 days after completion of the freelancer's services. Once services are performed, the hiring party cannot demand the freelancer accept less than the contracted amount as a condition of timely payment.

Recordkeeping and remedies

Hiring parties must retain freelance contracts for at least six years. Penalties include statutory damages (the value of the contract for failure to enter a written contract), double damages for non-payment, injunctive relief, attorney's fees, and a civil penalty up to $25,000 for a pattern or practice of violations.

App-Based Delivery Worker Minimum Pay Rate

NYC sets a minimum pay rate for restaurant and grocery delivery workers using third-party apps such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, Instacart, and Shipt. The DCWP rule annually adjusts the rate for inflation.

Current rate

Effective April 1, 2026, the minimum pay rate is $22.13 per hour (excluding tips), reflecting a 3.2% inflation adjustment.

Coverage

Local Law 124 expanded the minimum pay rate to cover third-party grocery delivery workers, in addition to restaurant delivery. Apps must guarantee the rate as either pay-per-trip or pay-per-hour.

Other delivery worker rights

Apps must also let workers limit their delivery range, refuse trips without penalty, receive trip information before accepting, get paid weekly, and have access to a bathroom on the route. Restaurants must allow delivery workers to use the bathroom while picking up an order.

The Trapped at Work Act: A Statewide Ban on Stay-or-Pay Agreements

Governor Hochul signed the Trapped at Work Act on December 19, 2025. The law amends New York Labor Law to prohibit employers from requiring workers to sign agreements that obligate repayment if the worker leaves before a stated period.

What is banned

An employment promissory note is any instrument, agreement, or contract provision that requires a worker to pay the employer (or the employer's agent or assignee) a sum of money if the worker leaves the job before a certain time has passed. This includes provisions characterizing the repayment as reimbursement for the cost of training.

Exceptions

Repayment of payroll advances unrelated to training.
Payment for employer-provided property sold or leased to the worker.
Agreements tied to sabbatical leave for educational personnel.
Programs agreed to under a collective bargaining agreement.

Penalties

The Act does not create a private right of action, but the New York State Department of Labor can administer civil penalties of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation.

Pending amendment

A chapter amendment under consideration would push the effective date to February 13, 2027 and add carveouts for certain tuition repayment agreements and bonuses. Track the amendment's status before relying on the original effective date.

The Consumer Credit History Ban (Effective April 18, 2026)

New York amended Executive Law Section 296 to prohibit most employers from requesting, obtaining, or using a job applicant's or employee's consumer credit history in connection with hiring, compensation, promotion, or other terms of employment.

Coverage and exceptions

The ban applies broadly with narrowly defined statutory exceptions for positions where consumer credit history is required by law (such as financial industry positions covered by FINRA or banking regulators) or where the employer can demonstrate a substantial connection between the credit information and the position.

What HR teams should do now

Audit any background check vendor settings that pull credit reports.
Update employment applications and offer letters to remove credit-related questions.
Train recruiters and hiring managers on the prohibition.
Document any role you intend to claim under the narrow exceptions.

NYC has had its own credit history ban since 2015 under the NYC HRL. The state law expands the reach to all New York employers and tightens enforcement.

New York Paid Family Leave and Disability Insurance

NYC employers also operate under New York State leave programs.

New York Paid Family Leave (PFL)

PFL provides job-protected, partially paid leave for bonding with a new child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, addressing certain military family needs, and (effective January 1, 2025) caring for the donor at the time of organ donation. The 2026 benefit is 12 weeks per 52-week period, with a benefit equal to 67% of the employee's average weekly wage, capped at 67% of the State Average Weekly Wage. PFL is funded through employee payroll deductions.

New York Short-Term Disability Insurance (DBL)

DBL provides up to 26 weeks of partial wage replacement for an employee's own non-work-related illness or injury. The maximum weekly benefit is $170, which has not changed in decades. Employers can require partial employee contributions.

Pregnancy Discrimination Act and accommodations

In addition to PFL and DBL, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the NYCHRL all require reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions. The 20-hour state paid prenatal personal leave (codified into ESSTA in NYC) supplements those rights.

Workplace Violence and Occupational Safety

Retail Worker Safety Act

The state-level Retail Worker Safety Act (effective March 4, 2025; key provisions effective June 2, 2025) requires retail employers with 10 or more employees to adopt a written workplace violence prevention policy and provide training. Larger retail employers (500+ retail employees nationwide) must also provide silent response panic buttons. The law applies in NYC and is enforced by the New York State Department of Labor.

PESH (Public Employee Safety and Health)

For public-sector NYC employees, PESH (the state's adopted federal OSHA equivalent for public employees) applies. Private-sector NYC employees fall under federal OSHA.

Workplace violence reporting and investigation

When workplace violence incidents do happen, document the report, the investigation, the corrective action, and the follow-up. Treat the file like a wage-and-hour record. You will need it if it becomes the subject of a charge under the NYCHRL or the Retail Worker Safety Act.

Independent Contractor Classification in New York

New York does not use the ABC test for general employment law. The Department of Labor and the courts use a common-law right-of-control test that weighs roughly a dozen factors including the right to direct work, opportunity for profit and loss, investment in tools and equipment, permanence, integration into the business, and discretion in hiring assistants. The Workers' Compensation Board and the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board apply the same test.

Construction Industry Fair Play Act

In construction specifically, the New York Construction Industry Fair Play Act creates a presumption of employee status that can be rebutted only by a 12-factor test similar to the ABC test.

Commercial Goods Transportation Industry Fair Play Act

A similar law applies to commercial goods transportation. Misclassification carries civil penalties up to $1,500 per misclassified worker for a first violation and up to $5,000 for subsequent violations within five years, plus criminal penalties for willful violations.

App-based delivery workers

App-based delivery workers in NYC are treated as independent contractors for federal labor law purposes but receive a minimum pay rate, sick pay accrual mechanics, and other protections under DCWP rules. The legal posture is contested and continues to evolve.

Non-Competes and Restrictive Covenants in New York

New York continues to disfavor non-competes. Courts apply a four-part reasonableness test from BDO Seidman v. Hirshberg: the restriction must be no greater than necessary to protect a legitimate employer interest, must not impose undue hardship on the employee, must not be injurious to the public, and must be reasonable in time and geography.

Statewide non-compete legislation

A bill that would have banned all non-competes in New York passed the legislature in 2023 but was vetoed at the end of the year. Lawmakers have continued to introduce variations, and HR teams should expect additional legislative activity on the topic in 2026.

Garden leave and notice provisions

Garden leave provisions, paid notice periods, and customer non-solicitation clauses remain enforceable when reasonable. NYC employers should narrow non-compete drafting to the minimum scope needed and keep cleaner enforceability than under the BDO Seidman test.

Recordkeeping Requirements for NYC Employers

Stack the federal, state, and city recordkeeping rules, and most NYC employers should retain employment records for at least six years:

Wage and hour records: 6 years under New York Labor Law Section 195.
Wage notices and acknowledgments: 6 years.
Pay stubs: 6 years.
ESSTA records: 3 years (DCWP rule), but pair with the 6-year wage record retention.
Freelance contracts: 6 years.
OSHA Form 300 logs: 5 years.
FMLA records: 3 years.
Title VII records: 1 year, but extend to 3 years for any termination.
I-9 records: 3 years from date of hire or 1 year from termination, whichever is later.

Investigation files for harassment and discrimination claims should be kept for the longer of three years after the resolution or three years after the limitations period for the underlying claim ends.

New York City Enforcement Agencies and Filing Forums

Multiple agencies enforce NYC employment laws, and complaints often land at more than one of them at once.

NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP): ESSTA, Fair Workweek, Fast Food Just Cause, Workers' Bill of Rights, Lactation Accommodation, AEDT (Local Law 144), Freelance Isn't Free, app-based delivery worker rules.
NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR): NYCHRL claims (discrimination, harassment, retaliation), Fair Chance Act, Stop Sexual Harassment Act.
New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL): wage and hour, wage notices, paid sick leave, paid prenatal leave, Trapped at Work Act, classification.
New York State Division of Human Rights: SHRL claims.
NYS Workers' Compensation Board: PFL and DBL claims.
EEOC: federal Title VII, ADA, ADEA, PWFA, Equal Pay Act claims.
U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division: federal FLSA, FMLA, Service Contract Act claims.
NLRB Region 2 and 29: National Labor Relations Act unfair labor practice charges.

New York WARN: Mass Layoff Notice Rules

The New York State WARN Act applies to NYC employers with 50 or more full-time employees, far broader than the federal WARN Act's 100-employee threshold. NY WARN requires 90 days' advance written notice (versus 60 days under federal WARN) for plant closings, mass layoffs, relocations, or significant reductions in work hours.

Coverage triggers

Plant closing: permanent or temporary shutdown affecting 25 or more full-time employees at a single site.
Mass layoff: 25 or more full-time employees representing at least 33% of the workforce at the site, or 250 or more full-time employees regardless of percentage.
Relocation: moving operations 50 miles or more from the original site.
Reduction in work hours: a reduction of more than 50% during each month for any 6-month period.

Notice recipients

Notice must go to affected employees, the New York State Department of Labor Rapid Response Unit, the local workforce investment board, and the chief elected official of any affected unit of local government.

Smaller Leave Categories Every NYC Employer Should Track

Voting leave

New York Election Law Section 3-110 requires employers to provide up to two hours of paid time off for an employee to vote, if the employee does not have four consecutive non-working hours when the polls are open. The employee must request the time off at least two working days before the election.

Jury duty

Employers with 10 or more employees must pay the first $40 of an employee's wages each day for the first three days of jury service. Smaller employers must allow unpaid leave for jury duty without penalty.

Bone marrow and blood donation leave

Employers with 20 or more employees must allow up to 24 work hours of leave for a bone marrow donor procedure (paid or unpaid at the employer's discretion) and reasonable time off for blood donation.

Crime victim leave

New York Penal Law Section 215.14 prohibits employers from discharging an employee for taking leave to attend criminal proceedings as a victim or witness. Some leave under this category overlaps with ESSTA-qualifying safe time uses.

Military leave

Federal USERRA applies. New York Military Law Section 242 also provides reinstatement rights and unpaid leave for service in the New York Organized Militia. Public employees get additional benefits.

School activities leave

There is no NYC- or state-mandated school activities leave for parents, but some employers offer it as a benefit. Where leave is offered, parents are protected from retaliation under the NYCHRL caregiver status provision.

The CROWN Act: Hair and Hairstyle Protections

New York amended the State Human Rights Law (and the City's race definition under the NYCHRL) to prohibit discrimination based on hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braids, locs, twists, Bantu knots, and afros. The protection applies in hiring, promotion, discipline, and grooming policies.

What grooming policies cannot do

Employers cannot enforce dress codes or grooming standards in a way that bans, limits, or restricts natural hair textures or protective hairstyles associated with Black employees. A facially neutral "professional appearance" rule that targets natural hairstyles violates the law.

Health and safety exceptions

Where the employer has a legitimate health or safety concern, it must consider less restrictive alternatives such as hair ties, hair nets, head coverings, or modified personal protective equipment before restricting an employee's hairstyle. Document the analysis. The CCHR will look at whether the employer engaged in a real comparison of alternatives.

Cannabis and Off-Duty Conduct Protections

New York Labor Law Section 201-D protects employees from discrimination based on legal recreational activities outside of work, including legal cannabis use. The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), passed in 2021, broadened those protections.

Cannabis-specific rules

No adverse action against an employee or applicant based on legal cannabis use before or after work hours, off the employer's premises, and without the employer's equipment or property.
No drug testing for cannabis as a condition of employment unless a narrow exception applies (federal Department of Transportation rules, federal contract requirements, certain safety-sensitive positions, federal grants conditioned on testing).
On-duty use still prohibited. Employers can prohibit possession or use during working hours (including meal and rest breaks) and on company premises.
Articulable symptoms of impairment at work are a permissible basis for adverse action, but the symptoms must specifically decrease or lessen the employee's task performance, not simply the smell of cannabis.

Off-duty political activities, recreational activities, and union membership

Section 201-D also protects political activities, legal recreational activities outside of work, and membership in a union. Discipline for any of these is unlawful unless the activity creates a material conflict of interest related to the employer's trade secrets, proprietary information, or other legitimate business interest.

NYC Protections for Interns

The NYCHRL covers interns, paid or unpaid, for purposes of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and the cooperative dialogue obligation. NYC was the first major U.S. jurisdiction to extend statutory civil rights coverage to interns this comprehensively.

Who counts as an intern under the NYCHRL?

An intern is a person who works without pay or for less than minimum wage, performs work that benefits the employer, receives training, and would not displace regular employees. The NYCHRL's coverage of interns reaches sexual harassment, discrimination based on protected characteristics, and retaliation for opposing discrimination.

How AllVoices Helps NYC Employers Stay Compliant

NYC compliance is a documentation problem before it is a legal problem. The Fair Workweek Law expects you to prove the schedule was posted on time and that any premium was paid. The NYCHRL expects a written cooperative dialogue. The Fast Food Just Cause Law expects a written notice with the precise reasons for discharge within five days. The ESSTA expects accurate accrual and pay stub tracking. The Stop Sexual Harassment Act expects training records and a current complaint procedure. AEDT expects bias audit summaries posted publicly. Lose the paper trail and the case is lost before it starts.

AllVoices is an HR case management platform built for that documentation discipline. NYC HR teams use AllVoices to:

Centralize complaint intake from employees, anonymous tips, and manager-escalated incidents in one auditable case file. Investigations completed inside the platform leave a timestamped record that holds up in front of CCHR or DCWP.
Run cooperative dialogue tracking for accommodation requests under the NYCHRL. Each case captures the request, the dialogue, the alternative accommodations considered, and the final written determination.
Document Fast Food Just Cause discipline workflows with templated written notices, progressive discipline tracking, and the five-day clock for the precise-reasons explanation.
Track Fair Workweek schedule changes and premiums alongside the underlying complaint when a worker reports a violation.
Standardize sexual harassment investigation files in a defensible structure that aligns to CCHR standards and the Stop Sexual Harassment Act's requirements.
Use Vera AI to run a first-pass classification of incoming complaints (harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, accommodation, safety) so the right person gets routed in minutes, not days.
Integrate with Workday, Rippling, Paylocity, and other HRIS systems so manager and reporting hierarchies stay current and conflicts of interest get flagged automatically.

AllVoices is the system of record for the kind of investigation, accommodation, and complaint-handling work that lives at the heart of NYC compliance.

Frequently Asked Questions About NYC Labor Laws

What is the NYC minimum wage in 2026?

$17.00 per hour. The same rate applies in Long Island and Westchester. Tipped food service is $11.35 cash plus a $5.65 tip credit; tipped service employees get $14.15 cash plus a $2.85 tip credit.

When does the new NYC ESSTA expansion take effect?

February 22, 2026. NYC employers must provide a new 32-hour bank of unpaid safe and sick time, immediately available on hire and at the start of each calendar year, on top of existing paid sick leave. Updated DCWP notices must reach all current employees by March 24, 2026.

Does the NYC Fair Workweek Law apply to all retail employers?

No. It applies to retail employers with 20 or more retail employees in NYC. Fast food rules apply to chains with 30 or more establishments nationally, including franchises.

Do I need to do a bias audit for my AI hiring tool?

If the tool is used to substantially assist or replace discretionary hiring or promotion decisions for any candidate residing in NYC, yes. The bias audit must be completed by an independent auditor within the last 12 months, the summary must be public, and candidates must get 10 business days' notice.

When are final wages due in New York?

By the regular payday for the pay period in which the separation occurred, regardless of whether the employee quit or was terminated. Earned commissions are due on the same schedule. Frequency-of-pay statutes can require sooner payment for manual workers and certain other categories.

Does NYC have a salary history ban?

Yes. Employers cannot ask job applicants about salary history or rely on it to determine an offer. NYC adopted the rule in 2017; the state followed in 2020.

How long must NYC employers retain wage and hour records?

At least six years under New York Labor Law Section 195. ESSTA records have a three-year retention requirement under DCWP rules, but it is cleaner to align everything to the six-year wage record window.

Are non-competes enforceable in New York?

They are enforceable when narrowly tailored under the BDO Seidman reasonableness test, but legislators have repeatedly tried to ban them and a vetoed 2023 bill could resurface. Customer non-solicits and garden leave provisions remain easier to enforce than pure non-competes.

The Bottom Line

NYC employment law in 2026 layers on top of New York State law that already layers on top of federal law. The expansion is not slowing down. Every legislative session adds new obligations, especially around leave, scheduling, hiring technology, and pay transparency.

The 2026 priorities for NYC HR teams:

By February 22, 2026: update sick leave policies to add the 32-hour unpaid bank, codify paid prenatal leave inside the policy, and revise temporary schedule change procedures to a right-to-request framework.
By March 24, 2026: distribute the updated DCWP Notice of Employee Rights to all current employees and start including it at hire.
By April 1, 2026: if you operate or contract with delivery apps, confirm $22.13 per hour minimum pay rate compliance and document the methodology.
By April 18, 2026: remove consumer credit history questions from hiring forms and update background check vendor settings.
By December 4, 2026: watch for the City's designated pay data reporting agency and start auditing job classification and compensation data so the 2027 reporting form can be filed on time.
Throughout 2026: run annual sexual harassment training for any employee who works more than 80 hours and has been employed for at least 90 days; verify your AEDT bias audits are within the 12-month window; refresh the Workers' Bill of Rights notice; check that lactation policies are physically and electronically posted.
Ongoing: keep wage notices, pay stubs, schedule postings, premium pay records, accommodation cooperative dialogue files, and investigation files for at least six years.

For HR teams that handle NYC compliance day in and day out, see how case management works in AllVoices.