If you live in New York City, you earn a little bit of sick leave every day you work. It’s part of the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), a law that protects all of us. Those protections are being attacked by the top anti-worker law firm in the world, JacksonLewis, the guys who hold the secret meetings and literally wrote the book on union busting.

Under the previous system, corporations had a pretty easy time avoiding accountability. Starbucks workers waited 3 years for their rights to be enforced, Amazon workers 4, and a JetBlue employee waited 8 years to be reinstated. Our rights disappeared the moment employers chose to violate them.

That changed last year. In 2024, the New York City Council passed Local Law 22, creating a dual enforcement model, administrative and judicial, designed to protect workers from prolonged job loss and economic hardship. This means that when an employer breaks the law workers can go to court themselves and ask a judge to enforce their rights. It’s not about big payouts. It’s about getting your job back in days or weeks instead of months or years, stopping retaliation, and showing other workers it’s safe to stand up.

There are two ways courts can quickly stop violations and reinstate workers who have been retaliated against—a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction. These tools can stop employers from continuing to break the law. Without them New Yorkers can plan for their right of action to take 32 months to reach a verdict, possibly three years by the time judgment is enforced.

Hannah Lopez is a restaurant worker in New York City. She’s worked at the company for 10 years. She cares about her coworkers and has done everything from picking up shifts for coworkers’ emergencies to securing legal help for a coworker taken from her restaurant by bounty hunters working for ICE. A few months ago, she was fired after helping her coworkers exercise their sick leave rights. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protections (DCWP) issued four different charges against the company. Though they have continued to try, the company simply refuses reinstatement. Because they are getting away with it, the message to workers is clear, “exercise your rights and you’ll be fired”.

To fight back, Hannah has moved to the courts. She filed for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction to end retaliation, to be returned to work, and end current violations against her and her coworkers at the restaurant. Her case is still pending.

And there’s the problem: If courts don’t have the ability to enforce ESSTA, to stop current violations and prevent future ones, we could be right back to waiting months or years for justice. And companies will know they can go back to violating ESSTA.

The outcome of this case could determine the nature of everyone's access to our Earned Safe and Sick Time rights.

We have two possible solutions:

1. Brandworkers and allies are organizing a Letter of Legislative Intent. We believe the council’s intention was to create a law that ensures New York City’s workers can use sick leave without being fired and this is how we can help them make it clear to the court and to all of us. We have until July 14th at 5:00pm.¹
   

2. If city council’s support doesn’t materialize, ²we’ll keep organizing—pushing the council to ensure ESSTA enforcement is real, timely, and protects workers before they’ve lost everything.

If Hannah wins, the court can affirm that the private right of action is created to enforce the provisions of the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act; to stop violations as they happen, instead of allowing workers to be harmed until the final closing of their case. If she loses, corporations will believe they can violate the law, ignore city enforcement, and run out the clock while workers lose everything.

Hannah has been a ‘pro se’ litigant for months. That means until recently becoming represented by the workers’ rights firm Outten and Golden, she was by herself. She has made it so far but needs more allies and help if we are going to win.

This is about more than one worker—it’s about whether the law actually protects all of us.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Sign The Letter of Support/Call Your Representative. If you work for a living and have never fought for your rights. We will show you how. If you are an organization, you can sign on here.

2. Donate - If you’ve ever been able to take sick leave, support the workers fighting for it.

Stand with Hannah. Defend our rights. Protect NYC’s sick leave law.

Contact us: info@protectESSTA.org