New York First State to Mandate Paid Prenatal Leave, by Keith Gutstein, Esq. and Jennifer E. Sherven, Esq., 9-9-2024

New York employers will be required to grant paid prenatal personal leave to eligible pregnant employees beginning January 1, 2025.

Under the first-of-its-kind prenatal leave law, employers will be required to provide employees 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave during any 52-week calendar period. This paid prenatal personal leave, an amendment to New York Labor Law 196-b (New York Paid Sick Leave Law), is separate from the up to 40 or 56 hours (depending upon the size of the employer) of paid sick leave per calendar year employers are already required to provide.

Key Provisions

Paid prenatal personal leave may be taken for 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 pregnancy.

It may be taken in hourly increments and benefits must be paid in hourly installments. Employees will be compensated at their regular rate of pay or applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater. Employers are not required to pay an employee for unused paid prenatal leave upon an employee’s termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation of employment. Additionally, an employer may not require the disclosure of confidential information as a condition of providing sick leave or paid prenatal personal leave.

Steps for Employers to Consider

• Review your existing leave policies and update them by January 1 to reflect this new benefit;
• Train managers on the new requirements to provide paid prenatal leave; and,
• Update employee handbooks by Jan. 1 to reflect the prenatal leave allowance.

Authors: Partner Keith Gutstein, Co-Chair of Kaufman Dolowich’s Labor and Employment Practice and Employment Law Partner Jennifer Sherven