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Chamber urges city to protect small businesses in implementation of expanded leave rules

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NEW YORK, NY – March 2, 2026 – Today, Jessica Walker, President and CEO of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, submitted written testimony to the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) regarding the proposed rules amending regulations related to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA).

While the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce supports the fundamental principle that workers deserve access to protected time off for essential life needs, it expressed significant concerns regarding the implementation burden, regulatory clarity, and the cumulative impact on Manhattan's small business community.

The Cumulative Compliance Burden

The proposed rules, which implement Local Law 145 of 2025, significantly expand ESSTA by adding new categories of authorized leave usage and requiring employers to provide an additional 32 hours of unpaid protected time off that is immediately available on an employee's first day of work. When combined with existing paid leave obligations and the separate 20-hour paid prenatal leave entitlement, total potential leave obligations can reach between 92 and 108 hours per employee each year. The Chamber emphasized that these requirements present real scheduling challenges, payroll complexity, and financial costs that must be absorbed by storefront businesses already navigating a difficult commercial environment.

Regulatory Clarity and Enforcement Concerns

The Chamber's testimony also highlighted the administrative burden of rebranding "safe/sick time" to "protected time off," which will require all city employers to revise policies, update payroll systems, retrain personnel, and redistribute employee notices. Furthermore, the Chamber cautioned against a penalty-driven enforcement model that disproportionately impacts the smallest businesses, which often lack dedicated human resources or legal counsel. Currently, a failure to maintain a written policy or adequate records can trigger penalties of $500 per employee, per year, which could be an existential threat to a small enterprise.

Recommendations for Thoughtful Implementation

To ensure that these expanded protections achieve their intended goals without imposing undue hardship on local businesses, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce offered the following recommendations to the DCWP:

  • Extended Transition Period: Provide a minimum 12-month grace period for employers to update their policies, systems, and documentation without facing enforcement actions.

  • Free Compliance Tools: Develop and distribute free, multilingual compliance templates, model written policies, and leave-tracking tools.

  • Interpretive Guidance: Publish detailed, scenario-based FAQs addressing the new authorized use categories well in advance of enforcement.

  • Cure-Period Protections: Establish a mandatory cure period for first-time, non-willful violations to protect small employers from disproportionate financial penalties.

  • Scaled Enforcement: Adopt an enforcement framework that scales penalties proportionally to employer size and differentiates between willful noncompliance and inadvertent errors.

"We believe that strong labor protections and a thriving small business ecosystem are not mutually exclusive—but achieving both requires thoughtful implementation, clear guidance, and an enforcement posture that prioritizes education and compliance assistance over punitive action," stated Jessica Walker in the submitted testimony.

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce remains committed to working collaboratively with the city to support both workers and the small businesses that are the lifeblood of Manhattan's neighborhoods.

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