NY Paid Prenatal Leave: An Employer's Guide for Compliance 2025

Beginning Jan. 1, 2025, New York became the first state in the U.S. to require paid prenatal leave for employees. This amendment to New York Labor Law, Section 196-b, provides employees 20 hours of paid leave for prenatal affairs, including doctor appointments, medical procedures, testing, and consultation.

If you operate in the state of New York, you may be wondering how this new requirement applies to your business. In this article, we’ll review the details of the law, your responsibilities under it, and how Mosey can assist with corporate compliance.

Who Is Covered by New York’s Paid Prenatal Leave Law?

In New York, all private-sector employees are covered and eligible for paid prenatal leave. They become the first state to require this form of parental leave.

Private-sector employers include sole proprietors, limited liability companies (LLCs), corporations, and more. Private-sector employees include all persons working for private-sector companies within any occupation or industry, regardless of part-time status, employment contract, or immigration status.

That said, only the person receiving prenatal care can use paid prenatal leave — spouses, friends, and other family members cannot avail of this resource. Spouses looking to support a pregnant family member have other leave options, including New York Paid Family Leave (NY PFL) and New York Paid Sick Leave.

What Healthcare Services Are Covered Under the Law?

Employees can take up to 20 hours of paid prenatal leave for healthcare appointments and services during pregnancy.

Pregnancy-related appointments include:

• Discussions with medical professionals or healthcare practitioners on ensuring a safe delivery
• Medical procedures
• Physical examinations
• Testing directly or indirectly related to the pregnancy
• Fertility treatment
• Postnatal care
• Monitoring

How Does This Law Interact With Existing Leave Policies?

New York’s paid prenatal leave is a separate and distinct entity from New York State Sick Leave. Employees can request paid prenatal coverage, regardless of other options, and employers must provide them with 20 hours of fully paid leave without prejudice or retaliation.

As a result, employees can combine paid prenatal leave with paid sick leave, provided their circumstances entitle them to both policies.

What To Know About NY Paid Prenatal Leave

As a new form of leave, you may still have questions about how New York’s paid prenatal leave works.

Here are the most common considerations:

Employer Size

Employers with one or more employees in New York are subject to the paid prenatal leave program, regardless of the company’s size otherwise.

Headquarters

Whether in or out of state, your company will be subject to paid prenatal leave as long as you have one or more employees in New York.

Unused Benefits

If an employee leaves your company without using their paid leave benefits, you will not be liable to pay the amount.

Work Requirements

No minimum work requirements exist for New York paid prenatal leave. Newly hired employees have as much right to coverage as those who have worked with your company for years.

Trigger Date and Recordkeeping

Paid prenatal leave is triggered the first day an employee uses it and is measured over 52 weeks. For example, if an employee uses paid prenatal leave for the first time on March 1, 2025, they are entitled to the remainder of the paid 20-hour leave until March 1, 2026.

Employees can only use 20 hours, and unused benefit hours cannot be carried over to the next 52-week cycle. Employers should keep records on leaves, including the number of employees benefiting from the coverage, leave requests, and amounts of leave taken.

Disclosing Health Details

Employees are not required to share consultation details or other medical information with their employers. Similarly, an employer cannot request confidential or personal information regarding the employee’s health or the nature of the visit.

Hours Calculation

Employers must allow employees to take paid prenatal leave in hourly increments. For example, an employee can take an hour of leave to visit the hospital and return to work for the rest of the day. Employees are not required to use their 20-hour benefits all at once.

What Is the Compensation for NY Paid Prenatal Leave?

Paid prenatal leave is calculated at the employee’s regular contract rate or the appropriate minimum wage for their occupation or industry, whichever is higher.

Additionally, employees can use paid prenatal leave if they become pregnant more than once within 52 weeks, as long as the benefits used do not exceed 20 hours.

What Are the Other Paid Leave Programs in New York?

New York paid prenatal coverage offers employer-funded paid leave for consultations, medical interventions, and procedures for pregnant persons.

That said, there are other paid leave programs in the state, like New York Paid Sick Leave — which offers coverage up to 56 days, depending on the company size — and New York Paid Family Leave, which offers coverage up to 12 weeks a year.

New York Paid Sick Leave

New York paid sick leave is determined by company size. Employers with 100 or more employees must provide up to 56 hours of paid leave per calendar year, while employers with five to 99 employees must provide up to 40 hours per year.

Employers with four or fewer employees must provide 40 hours of paid sick leave if they reported a net income of more than $1 million in the previous tax year.

On the other hand, if employers with four or fewer employees reported a net income of less than $1 million, they must provide 40 hours of unpaid sick leave.

Like paid prenatal leave, paid sick leave covers all private sector employees regardless of occupation, industry, part-time status, or overtime exempt status. Employers can offer employees all hours of sick leave at the start of the year, or employees can take one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

New York Paid Family Leave (NY PFL)

NY PFL is paid family leave coverage that went into effect in 2018. Under NY PFL, employees are covered for partially paid family leave, up to 12 weeks a year, alongside healthcare benefits and job protection.

The conditions under which an employee can request a paid family leave include:

• Caring for a family member with medical complications
• Managing family matters related to a family member in active military service
• Caring for a child — either after birth, adoption, or foster care placement

Employees typically fund NY PFL. However, an employer must deduct these contributions from after-tax earnings and remit them to their insurance carrier. An employer can also choose to pay the contributions on behalf of their workers.

Employee contributions were 0.373% of the gross wage per period in 2024 and 0.388% in 2025.

What Are the Benefits of NY PFL?

The benefits of the NY PFL include:

• Up to 12 Weeks of Leave: NYPFL offers eligible employees up to 12 weeks of partially paid and job-protected leave.
• 67% of Pay During Leave: Employees receive 67% of their average weekly earnings, with a maximum pay of 67% of the New York State Average Weekly Wage (NYSAWW).
• Job Protection: During PFL, employees are protected from demotion or termination of contract. Employees must return to their positions or a similar position.
• Broad Coverage: NY PFL has a more flexible definition of “family” than FMLA coverage, including spouses, siblings, children, parents, grandparents, step-family, and in-laws.

How Do New York’s Paid Leave Programs Compare?

While paid sick leave and paid prenatal leave programs are funded by the employer, paid family leave is primarily funded by the employee.

Additionally, NY PFL is the only leave for caretaking. Paid sick leave and paid prenatal leave cover employees who need to take care of themselves, while NY PFL covers employees who need to take care of family.

What Are an Employer’s Responsibilities Under New York Paid Prenatal Leave?

New York employers have several responsibilities under paid prenatal leave, from notifying employees of their benefits to ensuring that they enjoy coverage without prejudice.

Providing Information to Employees

Employers subject to leaves, like NY PFL, must inform employees of the coverage at the point of hiring and provide updates at least once a year. The updates should detail, in full, the benefits employees will enjoy under the coverage, the criteria for qualification, and how to apply.

Withholding Payroll Deductions

For employee-sponsored paid leaves, employers must deduct a percentage of employees’ income to fund the program. Employers must be ethical with this deduction and ensure they do not take more than the maximum amount.

Job Protection for Employees on Leave

Under paid prenatal leave, employees are protected by law. That means employers cannot fire, demote, or retaliate against their workers for taking PPL.

Employers must continue to provide health insurance benefits and ensure that employees retain their jobs after their leave ends.

Keeping Records

Employers must keep accurate records of incidents related to paid family leave. While you’re not legally required to keep records of paid prenatal leave, it’s still a wise idea.

Records should include the number of employees benefiting from the coverage, leave requests, amounts of leaves taken, and payroll deductions (where applicable). Keeping these records for at least three years is generally advisable to ensure compliance, as non-compliance can result in legal issues.

Ensuring compliance with state labor laws is essential. Employers are responsible for informing employees of their rights and keeping track of leave balances. Failure to comply can result in penalties.

Plan Ahead for Paid Parental Leave With Mosey

Implementing New York paid prenatal leave might seem overwhelming. Payroll adjustments, recordkeeping, employee communication — it’s a lot of work. Luckily, Mosey can simplify state compliance with tools that work across all 50 states, eliminating errors and wasted time.

Need help with compliance for paid prenatal leave? Mosey has you covered. Set up your handbook with lawyer-approved policies through Mosey for a fully compliant handbook in minutes.

With Mosey, compliance is fast and easy. Schedule a demo today and learn how we can empower your business to stay compliant.

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