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Health & Safety

New York State Paid Family Leave (PFL)

In 2016, New York enacted the nation’s strongest and most comprehensive Paid Family Leave policy so working families would not have to choose between caring for their loved ones and risking their economic security. Paid Family Leave provides eligible employees job-protected, paid time off to:

  • Bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child,
  • Care for a family member with a serious health condition, or
  • Assist loved ones when a spouse, domestic partner, child or parent is deployed abroad on active military service.

Paid Family Leave may also be available in some situations when an employee or their minor, dependent child is under an order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19.

For more information on NYS PFL please visit their website.

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave.

FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. It also seeks to accommodate the legitimate interests of employers and promote equal employment opportunity for men and women.

FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees. These employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons:

  • For the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee;
  • For placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care;
  • To care for an immediate family member (i.e., spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
  • To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Whether an employee has worked the minimum 1,250 hours of service is determined according to FLSA principles for determining compensable hours or work.

Time taken off work due to pregnancy complications can be counted against the 12 weeks of family and medical leave.

Military family leave provisions, first added to the FMLA in 2008, afford FMLA protections specific to the needs of military families.

For more information please visit the Department of Labor FMLA website.

Disability Benefits

New York is one of a handful of states that require employers to provide disability benefits coverage to employees for an off-the-job injury or illness. The Disability and Paid Family Leave Benefits Law (Article 9 of the WCL) provides weekly cash benefits to replace, in part, wages lost due to injuries or illnesses that do not arise out of or in the course of employment (WCL §204). If you get injured or become disabled while you are eligible for or are collecting unemployment benefits, and if your injury or disablement results in you being ineligible for unemployment benefits, you are eligible for disability benefits.

Disability benefits are covered through your employer's disability benefits insurance carrier or your employer may be self-insured.


For more information please visit the NYS Worker Disability Benefits Website.