A change to New York Labor Law Section 196-b will give employees a new benefit of 20 hours of paid leave time per year to be used for prenatal healthcare service appointments during their pregnancy or related to their pregnancy.
The new paid prenatal leave law is a separate employee benefit from state paid or unpaid sick leave.
This new law takes effect on January 1, 2025 for all private-sector employees, regardless of size.
Who’s Covered by the Paid Prenatal Leave Law?
Again, the new law applies to all employees working for private-sector employers. Private-sector employers include persons, corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), or associations employing anyone in any occupation, industry, trade, business, or service, regardless of part-time status, and overtime exempt status.
Note that only the employee directly receiving prenatal health care may use paid prenatal leave. As a result, a spouse, partner, or another support individual attending prenatal appointments with a pregnant person is not entitled to paid prenatal leave.
An employee need not to work a minimum number of hours to accrue paid prenatal leave. All employees working for a private sector employer, including newly hired employees, are automatically entitled to the 20 hours each year of paid prenatal leave.
What Type of Prenatal Health Care Appointments are Covered?
Employees can take paid prenatal leave for prenatal health care appointments during or related to their pregnancy. These health care appointments include the following:
- Physical exams;
- Medical procedures;
- Fertility treatment;
- Monitoring;
- Testing;
- Physician discussions concerning healthy pregnancies; and
- End of pregnancy care.
Health care appointments after a pregnancy are not covered by paid prenatal leave.
Employees should request or notify their employer that they’re using paid prenatal leave with the same procedure they use to inform their employer about taking other types of time off.
If an employee stops working for an employer without using all of their paid prenatal leave, the employer isn’t required to pay them for any unused paid prenatal leave hours. Unlike other leave like employee eligibility for paid family leave or paid sick leave, paid prenatal leave doesn’t accrue.
What are Employer’s Obligations?
Employers are required to pay employees using paid prenatal leave at their regular rate of pay, or at the appropriate minimum wage for their occupation (whichever is more). Employers must allow employees to use paid prenatal leave when they request it until all 20 hours of leave they are entitled to each year have been exhausted.
Employers are encouraged to tell their employees about the type of notification or request procedures they should use when requesting time off.
Employers can’t ask for confidential information about a medical or prenatal appointments. Employees can’t be required to submit medical records or documents to their employer.
Employers should also bear in mind that it’s against the law for them to retaliate or discriminate against employees for requesting and using paid prenatal leave. Examples of employer retaliation may include:
- Reducing the number of hours of sick leave, vacation leave, or other leave to which an employee is entitled because they use paid prenatal leave.
- Changing an employee’s work location or hours after an employee requests to use paid prenatal leave.
- Terminating or demoting an employee after they request to use such leave.
Employers should also be aware that prenatal health care appointments may be covered by sick leave, paid prenatal leave, or an existing leave policy.
Finally, an employer can’t require an employee to elect one leave type over another or require then to use up one type of leave before using paid prenatal leave. This leave is a stand-alone benefit available to employees seeking prenatal healthcare services.
If you found this article helpful, check these out as well:
Employment Law for New York Small Business Owners and Start Ups
7 Reasons Why You Need an Employee Handbook as a New York Employer
Contact Us
Contact the experienced New York small business attorneys at LOVE LAW FIRM with questions about the new paid prenatal leave law.
We help business owners like you every day at the LOVE LAW FIRM. You don’t want to make a mistake on this important new employee benefit.
Francine E. Love is the Founder & Managing Attorney at LOVE LAW FIRM PLLC which dedicates its practice to serving entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses. The opinions expressed are those of the author. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
