As 2025 begins, New York employers should keep in mind the following updates and key dates as it pertains to employee leave and benefit entitlements:
January 1, 2025: Paid Prenatal Leave
- New York has become the first state in the United States to offer paid prenatal leave.
- Effective January 1, 2025, New York employers will be required to provide up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave to pregnant employees during any 52-week period for a long list of pregnancy-related doctor visits.
- Employees may use such leave to receive “health care services received by an employee during their pregnancy or related to such pregnancy, including physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring and testing, and discussions with a health care provider related to the pregnancy.” Fertility care and treatment and end-of-pregnancy care appointments are qualifying reasons for paid prenatal leave, but post-natal or postpartum appointments are not.
- Paid prenatal leave is a separate benefit from NYS sick leave or any other leave policies and laws. Accordingly, employees are entitled to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave in addition to any other available leave options. Employers cannot require an employee to choose one leave type over another or exhaust one type of leave before using paid prenatal leave.
- Employers cannot ask employees for details about their prenatal appointments, require corroborating documentation, or require employees to disclose confidential information as a condition to requesting use of leave.
- These benefits are available immediately upon hire, and the leave can be taken in hourly increments and is paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay. Employers are not required to pay out unused prenatal care leave at termination.
- The employee contribution rate and benefit amounts under New York Paid Family Leave will increase:
- the employee contribution rate will increase from .373 percent to .388 percent
- the maximum weekly benefit amount will increase from $1,151.16 per week to $1,177.32 per week.
- New York employers should ensure this type of leave is available to employees as of its effective date. Employers should also consider adopting a written policy detailing this new leave so employees and managers are aware of these entitlements.
January 1, 2025: Work-Related Stress & Worker’s Compensation Law
- Effective January 1, 2025, New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law will permit all workers to file claims for mental injury based on extraordinary work-related stress.
- This amendment to the Workers’ Compensation Law under A5745 (the “Amendment”) expands coverage to all workers in the State of New York whereas previously, only certain first responders were eligible for such benefits. The Amendment eliminates the requirement for the stress to be a result of a work-related emergency.
- Similar to physical injuries, the question of whether a causal relationship exists between a work activity and the mental injury is an issue of fact for the Workers’ Compensation Board and will likely be decided on a case-by-case basis.
- With the implementation of the Amendment, employers should consider the potential impact of an employee filing a workers’ compensation claim for mental injury on a subsequent claim of discrimination against the employer.
July 31, 2025: COVID-19 Paid Leave Expires
- New York’s COVID-19 paid quarantine leave expires.
- Currently, New York law requires employers to provide paid sick leave in the event of an order of quarantine or isolation related to COVID-19, in addition to other leave entitlements. Effective July 31, 2025, employers will no longer be required to provide employees with separate Paid Emergency Leave for COVID-19-related quarantines and isolations.
- After July 31, 2025, employees who need time off to manage care or isolate for COVID-19 will need to use existing paid leave laws including New York State’s Paid Sick Leave and New York City’s Earned Sick and Safe Time.
- As this date approaches, employers should ensure that their policies and practices reflect these updates, and that human resources personnel are apprised of these changes.
If you have any questions about the subject of this article and its implications for your business, please contact your designated Forework representative.