On April 4th, 2016, the Governor of New York signed a bill that will require employers to provide paid family leave benefits to eligible employees as part of the state’s disability insurance program. In light of this news, New York employers and employers with employees in New York should review their existing family and medical leave policies. Below is a brief overview of the law:
- Timing: Paid family leave benefits will be phased in over a four-year period, beginning January 1st, 2018. When the law is fully implemented in 2021, employees may be eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid family leave
- Funding: The paid family leave benefits will be funded by employees’ payroll deductions. No employer is required to contribute to or fund the paid family leave benefit. New York will set the maximum employee contribution by June 1, 2017, and it will be updated annually thereafter, on September 1 of each year.
- Notice: Employers will be required to post a notice about the law and provide written notice to certain employees
- Eligibility: An employee is eligible for paid family leave benefits if the employee works for a covered employer for 26 or more consecutive weeks. Covered employers include those that have one or more employees employed in New York on each of at least 30 days in any calendar year.
I hope that you find this brief overview helpful. For additional details on this law, including a look at how the leave will be phased in annually between 2018 and 2021, I encourage all clients to log-in to the CBGconnect portal and download our Compliance Bulletin about this topic.