NY Paid Family Leave Program

John J. Bonacic

July 1, 2016

The NY Senate enacted a paid family leave program this year to allow working New Yorkers to spend time with a sick family member or bond with a new child. 
That program will be phased-in over the next four years, and will include employees who have been in their current job for at least six months to provide protections and necessary financial resources so that family support can be available.
The Department of Financial Services has the ability to delay  the benefit increase after an analysis of the following factors:

  • The cost to employees of the benefit and the impact of the cost after the next scheduled benefit increase;
  • The number of insurance carriers writing family leave policies;
  • The overall stability of the program and its impact on employees; and
  • The impact of the benefit increase on the financial stability of the disability and the family leave insurance market and individual carriers.

Employees must provide notice to their employer 30 days in advance of their intent to take paid family leave, if the necessity to take such leave is foreseeable. If the leave is not foreseeable, the employee must provide such notice as reasonably practicable.
Employees are required to pay 100% of the cost of the benefit.
Any employee who willfully makes a false statement or fails to disclose a material fact for the purpose of obtaining a benefit under the family leave benefit program shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.