The New York Paid Family Leave Law (PFL) gives eligible employees the right to take job protected, paid time off to bond with a new child, care for a family member with a serious health condition, or address certain needs when a family member is deployed abroad on active military service. Unlike the federal FMLA, which provides unpaid leave, New York’s program replaces a portion of your wages and protects your job and health insurance while you are out.

What PFL Covers

Eligible employees may take paid leave for:

• Bonding with a newborn, adopted, or foster child during the first 12 months after placement or birth.
• Caring for a family member with a serious health condition. Covered family members include a spouse, domestic partner, child or stepchild, parent or stepparent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, and sibling.
• Handling qualifying exigencies related to a family member’s overseas active-duty deployment.

How Much Paid Leave You Get

• You can take up to 12 weeks of PFL in a 52-week period.
• Weekly benefits equal 67% of your average weekly wage, capped at 67% of the New York State Average Weekly Wage (NYSAWW). For 2025, the NYSAWW is $1,757.19, so the maximum weekly benefit is $1,177.32.

Who Is Covered and Who Is Eligible

Covered employers: Most private employers with one or more employees must carry PFL insurance. Public employers may opt in.
Employee eligibility:

• If you work 20 or more hours per week, you become eligible after 26 consecutive weeks of employment.
• If you work fewer than 20 hours per week, you become eligible after 175 working days.

Your Protections While on PFL

• Job protection: You must be returned to the same job or a comparable job with the same pay, benefits, and terms.
• Health insurance continuation: Your health insurance must continue on the same terms while you are on leave, provided you keep paying your share of premiums.
• No discrimination or retaliation: Employers may not punish you for requesting or taking PFL.

How PFL Works With Other Leaves

• FMLA: If a leave reason qualifies under both PFL and FMLA and your employer is covered by both, the employer may require the leaves to run concurrently, but only if the employer properly notifies and designates the leave as such.
• Paid time off: Employers cannot require you to use vacation or other PTO while receiving PFL benefits. You may choose to use PTO to “top up” if your employer allows it, but it must be voluntary.
• Short-term disability (DBL): You cannot receive PFL and New York disability benefits at the same time. You may take them sequentially; the combined total cannot exceed 26 weeks in a 52-week period.
• Full-day increments only: PFL can be taken all at once or intermittently, but only in full-day increments.
• Your own serious health condition: PFL does not cover your own medical condition. That may be covered by FMLA and by New York disability benefits, where eligible.

Cost and Funding (FYI)

PFL is funded through employee payroll contributions set annually by the Department of Financial Services. For 2025, the contribution rate is 0.388% of wages each pay period, up to a maximum annual contribution of $354.53.

Common Employer Violations We See

Employers sometimes break the law by:

• Refusing or delaying claim forms or failing to send them to the insurance carrier.
• Misclassifying employees as ineligible when they have met the 26-week or 175-day thresholds.
• Retaliating against workers for requesting or taking PFL (for example, by firing, demoting, cutting hours, or denying promotions).
• Failing to reinstate employees to the same or comparable job after leave.

Contact a New York Paid Family Leave Attorney

If your employer has interfered with your rights under the New York Paid Family Leave Law, you do not have to face it alone. The attorneys at Risman & Risman, P.C. have extensive experience representing New York employees in leave disputes and retaliation cases.

Call us today at (212) 233-6400 or contact us online for a free consultation.