Employers Should Act Now to Update Written Policies to Prepare for New Employee Benefit
Beginning January 1, 2025, New York will become the first state in the United States to require all private employers to provide their employees with paid prenatal personal leave.
The new paid prenatal leave law, proposed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul in the 2024 State of the State, was signed into law in April 2024 as an amendment to New York Labor Law Section 196-b.
In advance of the law's effective date, New York State has commenced a “public awareness campaign” (including a website containing an overview, FAQs, and information for employees and employers) to promote the new paid prenatal leave.
As of January 1, all private-sector employers, irrespective of size, are required to provide to their employees with twenty (20) hours of paid prenatal personal leave during any fifty-two-week calendar period. The 52-week calendar period triggers on the first date that the employee uses prenatal leave. This benefit is in addition to and separate from an employer’s existing requirements to provide sick leave to its employees.
An employee may take paid prenatal leave for the healthcare services received by that employee during the employee’s pregnancy or related to that employee’s pregnancy including but not limited to:
- Physical examinations;
- Medical procedures;
- Monitoring and testing; and
- Discussions with a health care provider related to the pregnancy.
Paid prenatal leave may be taken for fertility treatment or care appointments, including in vitro fertilization, and end-of-pregnancy care appointments. (It does not apply to post-natal or postpartum appointments.)
Employers are only required to provide the paid prenatal leave to the employee directly receiving prenatal healthcare services (as opposed to spouses or partners or others attending prenatal appointments with a pregnant person).
With the new year approaching and the January 1 effective date, employers should update their written policies to incorporate and advise their employees about the newly available paid prenatal care leave.
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