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New York City employers must act quickly as major amendments to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA), now referred to in updated guidance as the Protected Time Off Law, took effect on February 22, 2026. The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) has released a revised Notice of Employee Rights and proposed implementing rules, signaling heightened enforcement. Most significantly, employers must now provide employees with an additional 32 hours of unpaid protected t …

Covered entities that maintain a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) face an important compliance deadline. By February 16, 2026, organizations must update their NPPs to reflect new federal requirements aligning the HIPAA Privacy Rule with enhanced confidentiality protections for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment records under 42 C.F.R. Part 2. Why the Change? In 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued final rules implementing provisions of the CARES Act that …