The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has adopted rules under the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) that took effect on July 23, 2026. The rules provide additional guidance on employer administration of the law’s expanded leave requirements and impose several new compliance obligations. In February 2026, theESSTA was amended to expand the ways in which employees could use accrued safe/sick time, the amount of time an employee can take, confidentiality standards, and the framework for requesting temporary schedule changes. The rules address how employers must administer those new requirements.

Key changes under the rules

• Immediately available hours. As amended, ESSTA requires that employers provide at least 32 hours of immediately available unpaid protected time off on an employee’s first day of employment and the first day of each new calendar year. An employer may fulfill its obligation to provide 32 unpaid immediately available hours by providing some or all of this time as an equivalent amount of paid protected time off. An employer should pay employees for this time off when necessary to comply with other legal obligations.
• “Protected time off.” The rules indicate that “protected time off” can be used for the same qualifying reasons as existing safe/sick time.
• Written policy requirement. Employers must maintain a single written policy covering both protected time off and paid prenatal leave and distribute it upon hire, within 14 days...

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