It has been a long time since the U.S. Congress has enacted any type of comprehensive employment legislation. Based upon the current political climate, it does not appear that things will be changing any time soon. In the absence of movement from Congress to enact laws that will uniformly impact employers across the country, state and local governments have taken it upon themselves over the last few years to introduce and enact progressive measures designed to expand employment rights for employees.

For instance, on Jan. 1, 2018, the New York Paid Family Leave Benefits Law will go into effect which will provide employees with paid family leave benefits and job protection rights, similar to the unpaid benefits currently provided by the Family and Medical Leave Act. While many other states have previously legislated some type of unpaid family leave to employees, the New York Paid Family Leave Benefits Law appears destined to be the model for increased paid leave benefits to bond with a new child and care for a loved one with a serious health condition. In fact, New York is one of four states to offer some type of paid family leave. New York’s law, however, greatly expands prior efforts by state and local governments to provide paid family leave to employees. For instance, The California Paid Leave insurance program provides up to six weeks of paid leave to employees but the benefit is approximately 55 percent of an employee’s weekly wage. New Jersey, similarly, provides paid leave up to two-thirds of an employee’s weekly wages (up to $524/week) for six weeks. New York, in contrast, will initially offer eight weeks of paid leave (at 50 percent of one’s salary) on Jan. 1, 2018, and will increase the number of weeks to 10 on Jan. 1, 2019. New York’s law also gradually increases the amount of paid leave, maxing out at twelve weeks of paid leave (at 67 percent of one’s salary) in 2022.