What’s new in New York City: Further expanded earned safe and sick time obligations for employers

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, the ESSTA 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 of any changes, and upon request.
• Pay statements. Pay statements or other written documentation must inform the employee of the amount of protected time off accrued and used during the relevant pay period. Such statements must differentiate between paid and unpaid protected time off, as well as inform the employee of the total balance of the employee’s protected time off available for use and the total balance of the employees’ unpaid hours available for use.
• Electronic pay systems. Employers using an electronic system to issue pay statements or other documentation related to protected time off or paid prenatal leave must electronically alert employees each pay period that the required information is available, make that information readily accessible outside the workplace, and maintain accrual, use, and balance information for past pay periods in the system throughout the employee’s tenure. Upon separation, the employer must either continue to provide access to the system for six months or provide a written statement containing the required information for the employee’s last pay period no later than one week after the employee’s last payday.
• Recordkeeping requirements. Employers must create and retain records demonstrating compliance with the ESSTA, including records of any required policies for a period of three years, unless a longer retention period is required by another law, rule, or regulation.  
• Prenatal leave penalties. If an employer, as a matter of official or unofficial policy or practice, does not provide or refuses to allow the use of paid prenatal leave, the relief granted to each and every employee affected by the policy or practice must include (1) application of 20 hours of paid prenatal leave to the employee’s paid prenatal leave balance; and (2) monetary relief in the amount of $500 per employee per calendar year the policy or practice was in effect. 

New York City employers should review and update their protected time off and paid prenatal leave policies and practices to reflect these new requirements to ensure compliance.