PUBLICATIONS

Effective February 22, 2026, covered employers will have to comply with new amendments to New York City's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act ("ESSTA" or the “Act”), as we previously wrote. To aid employers in complying with this novel legal landscape, New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection ("DCWP"), which enforces ESSTA, has published a Notice of Public Hearing and Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Rules (the “Notice”) related to the latest amendments to the Act. In accordance with the Notice, the public will have a chance to submit comments on the proposed rules before the issuance of any final rules interpreting the amendments.

Additionally, the rules are meant to inform the amendments’ implementation and guide employers on how to track and distribute leave permitted under ESSTA.  Indeed, the Notice states that the proposed rules would “[p]rovide guidance to employers regarding their new compliance obligations, including on which bank of leave to draw from when employees have” both unpaid and paid safe and sick time available for use.

The proposed rules concern the following, among other things: 

• References to “Safe/Sick Time” in Written Policies: Most references to "safe/sick time" in the rules would be replaced with "protected time off." In addition, the requirement for an employer’s written policy to state that an employee may use leave for any of the purposes set forth in ESSTA and the rules (without any prohibited condition) would apply if the employer uses a term other than "protected time off," "safe/sick time," or "safe and sick time."

• Written Documentation: In either the pay statement (i.e., pay stub) or "other form of written documentation" permissible under § 20-919(c) of ESSTA, employers would be required to inform employees about (i) the amount of protected time off accrued and used during the relevant pay period and (ii) the remaining available protected time off for use, expressly indicating the amount of both paid and unpaid protected time off accrued and used and the amount of both that remain.

• Written Policy: An employer’s written policy would need to explain the amount of unpaid protected time off provided to employees pursuant to § 20-913(k) of ESSTA (i.e., at least 32 hours) and would need to indicate that such time is immediately available for use on “the first day of employment and the first day of each new calendar year.”

• Carryover: There would be no requirement for employers to allow employees to carry over any of the immediately available unpaid protected time off that employees did not use during the calendar year.

• Usage: When an employee needs to be absent for a covered reason, an employer would have to permit the employee to use paid protected time off that is available, unless the employee asks to use available unpaid protected time off instead.

• Substitution of Paid Time: Although an employer may provide 32 hours of paid protected time off to fulfill the new 32-hour requirement regarding unpaid safe/sick time, that paid time would have to be immediately available on the employee's first day of employment and on January 1 of each year (i.e., the first day of each calendar year). 

• Penalties: The penalties set forth in § 20-924(e) of ESSTA specifically would apply to violations for failing to provide or allow the use of paid prenatal leave and immediately available unpaid protected time off in addition to accrued protected time off. 

Additional changes under the proposed rules relate to recordkeeping and other requirements.

The public hearing regarding these proposed rules is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on March 2, 2026. Those who want to submit any comments to the proposed rules also must do so by that date. Currently submitted comments made online can be viewed here.  After March 2, 2026, the public will have an opportunity to review all comments that DCWP received on the proposed rules by visiting this page.