Sunrise, Sunset: New York State 2025 Budget Brings New Paid Prenatal Personal Leave And Sunset Date For COVID-19 Paid Leave – Employee Benefits & Compensation

What You Need to Know:

• Governor Kathy Hochul approved the Fiscal Year 2025 New York
  State Budget (the “NYS 2025 Budget”) on April 20,
  2024.




• Several leave-related topics affecting private employers are
  impacted by the NYS 2025 Budget.




• Most notably, a new paid prenatal personal leave entitlement
  was added to Section 196-b of the New York Labor Law, i.e., the New
  York State Paid Sick Leave Law. Beginning January 1,
  2025, employers must provide at least 20 hours of paid
  prenatal personal leave each year in addition to the existing
  statutory paid sick leave entitlement.




• Additional budget components impacting employee leave in New
  York State include: (i) a July 31, 2025 sunset
  date for COVID-19 leave under the New York State COVID-19
  Emergency Leave Law; and (ii) the introduction of a paid
  lactation break requirement under Section 206-c of the New
  York Labor Law.

After much anticipation, New York State lawmakers approved the
NYS 2025 Budget, which was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on April
20, 2024 and enacted through two sets of legislation – S08305C (and its companion A08805C) and S08306C (and its companion A08806C).
Collectively, the NYS 2025 Budget includes several noteworthy
changes to the paid leave landscape in New York. These changes are
summarized below.

• Paid Prenatal Personal Leave: Effective
  January 1, 2025, Section 196-b of the New York
  Labor Law will require employers to provide paid prenatal personal
  leave (“PPPL”). This is a new leave entitlement under the
  existing New York State Paid Sick Leave Law.¹ Key
  aspects of the new provision include:
  

  • Amount of Leave: 20 hours of PPPL during any
    52 week calendar period.

  
  

  • Covered Reasons for Use: For employees to
    receive health care services 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 pregnancy.

  
  

  • Interplay with Paid Sick Leave: PPPL will be
    in addition to the sick leave provided under the New York State
    Paid Sick Leave Law. Thus, employees eligible for PPPL will be
    entitled to use up to a total of either 60 hours or 76 hours,
    depending on employer size, of combined PPPL and Paid Sick Leave in
    a given year.

  
  

  • Increments of Use: PPPL may be taken in hourly
    increments.

  
  

  • Rate of Pay: PPPL must be paid at the
    employee’s regular rate of pay, or the applicable minimum wage
    under New York State law, whichever is greater. Further, PPPL
    benefits must be paid in hourly installments.

  
  

  • No Payout Upon Separation: Like New York Paid
    Sick Leave, unused PPPL need not be paid out upon an employee’s
    separation from employment.

  
  

  • Confidentiality, No Retaliation, Job
    Restoration: The NYS 2025 Budget further amends the New
    York State Paid Sick Leave Law by adding PPPL references to
    existing provisions prohibiting (a) disclosure of confidential
    information or records, (b) retaliation or discrimination, and (c)
    failure to restore an employee to the position of employment, with
    the same pay and other terms and conditions, that they held prior
    to taking covered leave.

    The remaining sections of the New York State Paid Sick Leave Law,
    also found in Section 196-b of the New York Labor Law, remain
    unchanged. Thus, it is likely that the following definitions from
    the Paid Sick Leave Law also apply to the new PPPL
    entitlement:

  
  

  • Employee: All private-sector employees in New
    York are covered under the New York State Paid Sick Leave Law,
    including part-time employees.
    

    • Note: Despite this potentially applicable
      broad definition of employee and pending further guidance from the
      State, it appears that PPPL is only available to an employee who is
      pregnant and receiving prenatal care.

  
  

  • Employer: The term “employer” is
    broadly defined for Paid Sick Leave purposes and includes any
    person, corporation, limited liability company, or association
    employing any individual in any occupation, industry, trade,
    business or service.

    The NYS 2025 Budget is silent as to a number of substantive topics
    related to employees’ forthcoming PPPL entitlement, including,
    but not limited to, treatment of new hires, documentation, employee
    notice to the employer, balance notification, and treatment of
    unused PPPL at year-end. Carryover of unused PPPL at year-end seems
    unlikely based on the nature of the leave and the permitted reasons
    for use.




• COVID-19 Leave Sunset Date: Currently, the New
  York State COVID-19 Emergency Leave Law provides employees with
  paid COVID-19 leave when subject to a mandatory or precautionary
  order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19. The amount of
  paid time off to which employees are entitled under this mandate
  has recently changed in light of the CDC ending its recommended
  five-day isolation period following a positive COVID-19 test. For
  additional information on New York COVID-19 paid sick leave
  entitlements, please see our prior alerts here and here.

  Importantly, the NYS 2025 Budget set the sunset date for New York
  State COVID-19 leave as July 31, 2025. After this
  date, COVID-19 leave under the Emergency Leave Law will no longer
  be available. Employees may continue to use other qualifying paid
  leave, such as New York Paid Sick Leave, for COVID-19-related
  reasons.

• Paid Break Time to Express Breast Milk: Prior
  to the passage of the NYS 2025 Budget, New York employees were
  entitled to reasonable unpaid break time to
  express breast milk at work. As of June 19, 2024, Section 206-c of
  the New York Labor Law will require employers to provide an
  additional paid 30-minute break along with
  existing paid break time and unpaid meal time, for the employee to
  express breast milk at work. Employees may take such paid break
  time for up to three years following child birth.

We will continue to monitor the State’s implementation of
the NYS 2025 Budget, including its impact on various leave-related
entitlements and potential forthcoming regulations and
administrative guidance.

Footnote

1. For more information on the New York State Paid Sick
Leave Law, see our prior Legal Updates here, here, here and here.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.