On April 4, 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the New York Paid Family Leave Benefits Law (PFLBL), guaranteeing job protected, paid family leave (PFL) for virtually all private sector employees, effective Jan. 1, 2018. These benefits fully phase in over a four-year period—by Jan. 1, 2021—and will increase annually in both maximum duration of leave and the amount of weekly paid benefits. New York will join California, Rhode Island and New Jersey as the four U.S. states providing PFL benefits. Unless other states act by 2021, New York will have the longest and most comprehensive PFL program in the country.
When fully implemented, the PFLBL will provide covered employees with up to 12 weeks of paid, job protected leave each year to care for a family member with a serious health condition, to bond with a child during the first year after the child’s birth, adoption or foster care placement, or for any qualified exigency (as defined under the FMLA) arising from a family member’s call to active military service. Unlike the FMLA, the PFLBL does not provide leave for the employee’s own serious health condition; for such situations, employees instead may be eligible for benefits under New York’s existing statutory short-term disability scheme.
