A method of wireless communication includes receiving, by a user equipment (UE) from a base station, a listen-before-talk (LBT) configuration message indicating whether category 2 (Cat2) LBT operations are enabled or disabled for the UE. The method further includes receiving, by the UE from the base station, a channel occupancy time (COT) message configuring the UE with a COT. The method further includes performing, by the UE, an LBT operation based on the LBT configuration message and based on the COT message.