New York Passes Landmark Paid Prenatal Care Leave for 2025 & Paid Lactation Breaks Coming Sooner

Prenatal Leave

New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation amending the New York State Sick Leave law by mandating employers with employees working in New York State to provide employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave (NY PPL) during any 52-week period.

NY PPL begins on January 1, 2025, and at that time, New York becomes the first state in the nation to require employers to provide paid prenatal leave for their employees.

• Covered Uses: NY PPL includes leave taken for the 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.
• Use Increments: NNY PPL in increments may be used in hourly increments.
• No Waiting Period: Employers are not permitted to impose a waiting period before employees may accrue or use NY PPL. Additionally, the full 20 hours of NY PPL must be made available to employees on January 1, 2025.
• Pay: Employees must be paid their normal rate of pay or the applicable minimum wage rate, whichever is greater, when taking NY PPL.
• Payout Upon Termination: Employers are not required to pay out unused NY PPL leave upon an employee’s termination of employment.
• Interaction with Other State Paid Leave & FMLA: NY PPL is a separate bank of time from the other New York State leave laws. As such, NY PPL will be provided in addition to, and may be taken separately from, the statutory New York Paid Sick Leave requirements that employers are required to provide to employees. Additionally, NY PPL does not appear to run concurrently with federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave taken for prenatal care purposes. This seems to indicate that NY PPL will be available in addition to any FMLA leave taken for such purposes.
• Confidentiality: Employers are prohibited from requiring the disclosure of confidential information relating to an employee’s use of NY PPL.
• Retaliation & Reinstatement: Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees for requesting and/or taking NY PPFL. Employees must be reinstated to their positions with the same pay and other terms and conditions of employment that they had prior to taking NY PPL.

Paid Lactation Breaks

Governor Hochul also signed legislation amending the New York State labor law that requires employers to provide break time for nursing mothers. Starting June 19, 2024, employers must provide 30 minutes of paid break time for employees to express breast milk for their nursing child each time they reasonably need to — for up to three years following the birth of the child. Currently, New York law requires employers to provide unpaid break time for employees to express breast milk.

Employers are also required to allow employees to use existing paid breaks or mealtimes for any duration beyond the 30 minutes each time they need to express milk.

Employers are prohibited from discriminating in any way against an employee who chooses to express breast milk in the workplace.

As a reminder, the New York State law guaranteeing the right of nursing employees to express breast milk requires employers to designate a room or other location for use by employees to express breast milk. This room or other location must be a place that is not a restroom or toilet stall and is:

• in close proximity to the work area,
• well lit,
• shielded from view, and
• free from intrusion from other persons in the workplace or the public.

Such a room or other location must provide a chair, a working surface, nearby access to clean running water, and an electrical outlet (if the workplace is supplied with electricity). If the workplace has a refrigerator, employers must allow employees to use it to store pumped milk.

New York State COVID-19 Sick Leave Expiration

On a final note — the New York State COVID-19 sick leave legislation, enacted in 2020, requires employers to provide paid sick leave and other benefits for employees who are under a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19. This legislation will expire on July 31, 2025. The amount of New York State COVID-19 paid sick leave that employees may receive depends on their employer’s size and annual income.

Employers will not be required to provide New York State COVID-19 paid sick leave after July 31, 2025. After that date, other New York State leave mandates, such as New York State Paid Sick Leave and New York State Paid Family Leave, may enable employees to take time off from work due to COVID-19.

Employer Next Steps

Employers with employees in New York State are advised to work with their employment and labor counsel to:

1. Update leave policies, procedures, and attendance/payroll systems to:
   • Reflect the new paid lactation break requirements ahead of the June 19, 2024 effective date.
   • Reflect the new NY PPL requirements ahead of the January 1, 2025 effective date.
   • Remove any references to the New York State COVID-19 sick leave requirements in anticipation of the July 31, 2025 expiration date.
2. Communicate these recent New York State paid leave developments to employees.
3. Train Human Resources team members and other employees who manage employee leaves on these recent developments.
4. Watch out for more guidance and/or rules from New York State clarifying these recent New York State paid leave developments.

Risk Strategies is here to help. Contact us directly with any questions at benefits@risk-strategies.com.