HR Alert: Paid Family Leave Law Expanded in 2023

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New York employees have benefited from the State’s Paid Family Leave law (PFL) for a few years now. As of January 1, 2023, the law expanded again, this time to add siblings in NY Workers’ Compensation Law section 201.

“Family member” now means a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, SIBLING, spouse, or domestic partner. . . .

As we know, New York’s PFL allows employees to take time off to bond with a newly born, adopted, or fostered child, care for family members with serious medical conditions, or assist loved ones in the case of military deployment, while having continuing compensation and having job protection and some pay provided. Employees’ siblings now are among the list of family members for whom employees can take off protected time.

What new considerations do New York employers need to know about? For any employer in the private sector with at least one employee, it must offer PFL, which is typically offered via the employer’s New York-mandated short-term disability insurance carrier. The insurance company has forms which the employer must provide to its employee to complete.

Now, any employee can justifiably take off up to 12 weeks of job-protected time if his sibling – including biological siblings, adopted siblings, step-siblings and half-siblings – has a serious health condition for which the employee will provide assistance.

What stays the same?

  • Subject to their length of employment, employees get up to 12 weeks of leave;
  • They must be allowed to keep their health insurance under the same terms;
  • The leave is protected, which means the employee must be permitted to return to her regular job;
  • The employee receives up to 67% of her compensation, up to a cap;
  • The employee’s citizenship can never be considered in deciding whether to grant or deny leave; and
  • Employers can’t discriminate or retaliate against an employee who asks for or takes PFL.

If your PFL policy hasn’t been updated to reflect the 2023 change, you should revise it now to be in compliance with NY law. If you have questions about PFL or other employment-related policies, don’t hesitate to call us. We’re always happy to help.

 

 

Lisa Coppola

Written by Lisa Coppola

Founder of The Coppola Firm

Lisa A. Coppola, Esq. understands the challenges her clients face, whether they’re starting a new business, taking their existing operations in a new direction, or facing a claim or threat.

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