New York City finalizes paid safe and sick leave rules

On June 23, 2026, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) published its final amendments to the Rules of the City of New York (RCNY or the Rules) to address amendments to the Earned Sick and Safe Time Act (ESSTA) (Sections 20-912 et seq. of the N.Y.C. Administrative Code) expanding on permissible uses and providing additional leave time that went into effect on February 22, 2026, as reported in our prior Insight. The amended rules went into effect on July 23, 2026. 

Protected time-off terminology

Following the enactment of the new 32-hour unpaid leave bank, the Rules adopt the term “protected time off” to encompass both paid and unpaid sick and safe leave entitlements under ESSTA. This terminology reinforces that employees are entitled to the same substantive rights and protections when taking leave for a covered purpose under ESSTA, regardless of whether the leave is paid or unpaid.

Employer reporting obligations (RCNY Section 7-207)

The most significant changes arising from the amendments appear in Section 7-207 of the Rules, which expands employers’ reporting and recordkeeping obligations in certain circumstances. Most notably, employers that use an electronic system to issue pay statements or other documentation related to protected time off or prenatal leave accrual, use and balance information must now provide departing employees with either (i) a written statement (which must be provided no later than one week following the employee’s last payday) showing the employee’s accrued, used and remaining balances of protected time off and paid prenatal leave as of the last pay period or (ii) continued access for up to six months following separation to the electronic system where that information is ordinarily maintained. 

In addition, each pay period, all employers must provide employees with notice of:

• the amount of protected time off accrued and used, separately identifying paid and unpaid protected time off;
• the employee’s available balances of paid and unpaid protected time off; and
• when applicable, the amount of paid prenatal leave used during the pay period and the employee’s remaining balance. 

The Rules further clarify that where an employee’s paid protected time off balance exceeds the statutory 40- or 56-hour annual use caps because of carried-over time, employers need only report the amount of leave accrued and available for use during the applicable calendar year.

Administering unpaid protected time off (RCNY Section 7-217)

The Rules now state that employers must apply paid protected time off to an absence unless the employee specifically elects to use unpaid protected time off. If an employee lacks sufficient paid protected time off to cover the absence, the employer must charge the remaining time against the employee’s unpaid leave balance. 

The Rules also clarify that employers may satisfy the requirement to provide 32 immediately available hours of unpaid protected time off by providing some or all of those hours as paid protected time off. However, any paid time off provided in lieu of the unpaid leave time does not count toward an employer’s separate obligation to provide 40 or 56 hours of paid protected time off. 

Unpaid protected time off is limited to work scheduled to be performed in New York City only (RCNY Section 7-203)

The Rules clarify that unpaid protected time off is available only for employees who perform work while physically located within New York City. Accordingly, employees who work both within and outside the City may use unpaid protected time off only for time they are scheduled to work in New York City. To illustrate this principle, Example 4 to Section 7-203 describes a construction company that does business in both Long Island and Queens and employs a worker who performs work in both locations. The employee is scheduled to work on Long Island but misses the shift due to illness. Because the missed work is outside New York City, the employee is not entitled to use unpaid protected time off under ESSTA for that absence. However, the employee may use accrued paid sick leave under Section 196-b of the New York Labor Law.

Employers’ written policies (RCNY Section 7-211)

Employers must update their safe and sick policies to reflect the new 32-hour unpaid leave entitlement. The policy must make clear that the unpaid leave bank is immediately available for use upon hire and on the first day of each new calendar year. 

Reasonable documentation for new authorized uses (RCNY Section 7-206)

While the ESSTA amendments that went into effect earlier this year broadened the permissible uses of protected time off, as summarized in our prior Insight, they did not make corresponding changes to the types of documentation that would justify such uses. The Rules now address that gap by clarifying that where the law does not specify what constitutes “reasonable documentation” for a particular use of protected time off, employers must accept documentation that simply shows the reason for the leave taken. As a result, the threshold for acceptable documentation appears to be quite low. For example, if an employee takes more than three consecutive workdays off to care for a minor child or other care recipient, a range of documentation could suffice — including something as simple as a text message from a babysitter stating that they will be unavailable for the week — so long as the documentation demonstrates a permitted use for the time off.

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For questions or concerns regarding any of the issues raised in this alert, please contact a member of our Employment Law Department.