The New York State Paid Family Leave Program (PFL) provides New Yorkers with up to 12 weeks of job-protected, paid leave to bond with a new child, care for a loved one with a serious health condition or to help relieve family pressures when someone is called to active military service. The Paid Family Leave Program is funded fully by employee deductions.
If you are a business that has employees working in New York State and your business has employed at least 1 person for at least a 30 day period in a calendar year, you must provide your employees with coverage.
What employers need to know
Covered employees
A covered employee is any person working in New York State for a private sector business, who meets any of the following criteria:
- Full-time: A person working 20+ hours per week who has been employed at least 26 consecutive weeks at your business.
- Part-time: A person who's completed at least 175 days of work for the business.
- Personal or domestic employees: A person working at least 40 hours per week for at least 30 or more days in a calendar year. Personal or domestic employees include chauffeurs, nannies, home health aides, nurses, babysitters, maids/live-in maids, cooks, housekeepers, laundry workers, butlers, companions, and gardeners who work in a private household.
Workers that are not covered by this law
- 1099 independent contractors
- Employers that are exempt from New York Disability Insurance requirements are also exempt from the Paid Family Leave requirements.
- Daytime students in an elementary or secondary school who work part-time.
- Minor children of the employer
- "Extra Employees" - individuals who are normally not in the labor market but are hired to do work for a limited special period of time
- "Casual Employees" - normally work in a different occupation and are hired for a day or less
- Railroad and maritime employees
- Farm laborers
- Golf caddies
- Black car operators covered by the Black Car Operators Fund
- Livery drivers covered by the Independent Livery Disability Benefits Fund
- Certain classes of employees (such as Owners/Officers, Clergy, and employees in a teaching capacity) at incorporated non-profit 501(c)3 religious, charitable or educational institutes
Qualified reasons for Paid Family Leave
- To provide care for a family member with a qualifying health condition
- To bond with a child after birth, adoption or to welcome a child into foster care
- To cope with a military exigency leave event
- To obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, rape crisis center, or other shelter or services program
- To participate in safety planning, temporarily or permanently relocate, or take other actions to increase the safety of the employee or family member.
- To meet with a civil attorney or other social service provider to obtain information and advice on, and prepare for or participate in, any criminal or civil proceeding, including but not limited to matters related to a family offense matter, sexual offense, stalking, human trafficking, custody, visitation, matrimonial issues, orders of protection, immigration, housing, discrimination in employment, housing, or consumer credit.
- To file a complaint or domestic incident report with law enforcement
- To meet with a district attorney's office
- To enroll children in a new school
- To take other actions necessary to maintain, improve or restore the physical psychological, or economic health or safety of the employee or family member or to protect those who associate or work with the employee
Employer responsibilities
- Contact your disability insurance carrier to obtain Paid Family Leave coverage. If you do not have a disability insurance carrier, OnPay can assist you with obtaining coverage.
- Ensure employees are notified that they are entitled to be reinstated to their same, or comparable, job upon return form Paid Family Leave. Note: Failure to reinstate employees to their same or comparable jobs may leave employers exposed to discrimination and/or retaliation claims.
- Employers must continue employee’s health insurance while they are on Paid Family Leave. Employers may require that employees continue to pay their health insurance premium contributions.
- Employers must ensure that their employees are aware of the Paid Family Leave program and their organizational policies comply with the law.
- Employers must display a poster regarding Paid Family Leave coverage in their place of business, similar to Worker’s Compensation or Disability Benefits coverage.
How to set up accrual policies in OnPay
Go to Payroll, then Set up, and click Accrual Policies.
Click Add in the upper right to open the Policy Setup template.
The Policy Setup template is divided into two parts:
- Policy name and type
- Policy setup
Policy name and type
Give this policy a unique name that sets it apart from other accruals. The name should make it very clear how and when this policy will apply. For this example, we'll make a sick time policy that accrues annually, but we'll explore many more examples later in this article.
Determine the timeframe by which accrued time is earned. Your choices are “Per hour worked,” “Per pay period,” or “Annual on anniversary date” (hire date).
Choose when these hours will expire, if ever. Your choices are “Hours do not expire”, “Hours expire on anniversary”, or “Hours expire on Jan 1st”.
Select the accrual type.
Policy Setup
The Policy Setup is in three periods. This means hours accrued by workers can increase with their tenure in up to three stages. To create a probationary period, where no time is accrued until this introductory period is over, enter "0" per hour, then the number of months in the probationary period. If you don't want accruals to increase, enter the same information in each period. Unused hours will rollover to the next period. We'll explore more examples later.
Note: Setting the "Cap" is not the same as setting a "rollover limit".
- Some businesses limit the amount of unused time off that an employee can continue to hold going into a new year. This is to ensure that employees are taking the time they need to live a balanced and full life, as well as to protect the business from employees taking or cashing out large sums of paid time off all at once. We'll show you how to limit rollover in How to assign time off accrual policies to employees→
First two periods
For the first two periods, enter:
- How many hours can be accrued each year
- For how many months time is accrued at this rate
- The limit, or cap for these hours.
Third period
You don’t need to indicate the number of months in the third period. This period lasts for the remainder of the worker's employment.
Click Create when you're ready to finalize this accrual. Clicking Not Now will close this window, but will not save your progress.
Employer FAQ
- Employees are eligible for up to 12 weeks of time off with the ability to return to their job and continue their health insurance. If the employee contributes to the cost of their health insurance, they must continue to pay their portion of the premium while on Paid Family Leave.
- Employees are eligible to receive 67% of their average weekly wage, up to a maximum of $1,151.16 (67% of the New York State Average Weekly Wage of $1,718.15). The state will adjust the Average Weekly Wage each year after a comprehensive analysis by the New York State Department of Labor.
- No, an employer may permit employees to use their accrued time so that they receive their full salary, but they may not require employees to use this accrued time.
- An employee is not entitled to continue to accrue Paid Time Off while out on Paid Family Leave, but the law and regulations do not prohibit the employer from allowing the employee to continue accruing leave.
- As an employer, you can deny Paid Family Leave to more than one employee at the same time to care for the same family leave recipient or to bond with a child.
Do your employees have questions about Paid Family Medical Leave? We answer their questions, too.
Learn more about Paid Family Medical Leave requirements by state.
More information about NY PFML is available at www.ny.gov/paidfamilyleave or by calling call (844)-337-6303.
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