New York Enacts Paid Prenatal Personal Leave

Beginning January 1, 2025, New York employers will be required to provide employees with 20 hours of paid “prenatal personal leave” during any 52-week calendar period to attend prenatal medical appointments during or related to pregnancy. New York is the first state in the country to mandate paid leave specifically for pregnant employees.  “Prenatal personal leave” is included in an amendment to New York’s budget, recently signed into law as Sections 196-b.2 and 4-a of the New York Labor Law by the governor and cleared by the state legislature.

The amendment defines “paid prenatal personal leave” as follows:

leave taken for the 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.

Paid prenatal personal leave applies to all New York employers, with no minimum employee threshold, and is applicable to both full-time and part-time employees. Employees may take paid prenatal personal leave in hourly increments, and must receive compensation at their regular rate of pay, or the applicable minimum wage established pursuant to New York law—whichever is greater. Employers are not required to pay an employee for unused prenatal personal leave at the time of separation from employment.

This leave is in addition to the leave already required by the New York Paid Sick Leave Law, but is otherwise subject to the same requirements, including that employers may not (a) require the disclosure of confidential information relating to a mental or physical illness, injury, condition, a sexual offense, etc., as a condition of providing paid prenatal personal leave; or (b) penalize, discriminate or retaliate against an employee for requesting or taking such leave.

The law does not provide direction on a number of substantive topics related to paid prenatal personal leave, including documentation and employee notice requirements, carry-over from year to year, interplay with other types of paid time off, and whether an employee is permitted to use all 20 hours of paid leave immediately upon hire. We expect that the New York Department of Labor will publish regulations or FAQs to clarify these and other interpretative questions in the coming months.

In the meantime, New York-based employers should review and update their current leave policies in preparation for the law’s January 1, 2025 effective date. Although New York is the first state to implement a standalone paid prenatal leave policy, the policy aligns with current trends as demonstrated by recently-enacted federal laws, including the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act, and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (“PUMP”) Act, requiring employers to provide time and employment protections for pregnant and nursing employees.