As New York employers look toward 2025, they should keep the following key dates in mind as it pertains to employee leave and benefit entitlements:
January 1, 2025:
- New York employers will be required to provide up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave to pregnant employees during any 52-week period. Such leave may be used for an employee to receive “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.” This leave is in addition to any other existing leave entitlements.
- New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law expands to allow workers to file claims for mental injury based on extraordinary work-related stress.
- The employee contribution rate and benefit amounts under New York Paid Family Leave will increase. The employee contribution rate will increase from .373 percent to .388 percent and the maximum weekly benefit amount will increase from $1,151.16 per week to $1,177.32 per week.
July 31, 2025:
- New York’s COVID-19 paid quarantine leave expires. Currently, New York law requires employers to provide paid sick leave in the event of an order of quarantine or isolation related to COVID-19, in addition to other leave entitlements. After the law expires, employees may still use sick leave for COVID-19 related absences in line with New York state and city sick leave laws.
As these dates approach, employers in the Big Apple should ensure that their policies and practices reflect these updates, and that human resources personnel are apprised of these changes.