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Your Employee Needs to Care for a Family Member? NY Paid Family Leave Can Help

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Adding to the stress of the winter holidays and the end of the year is the need to take time off work to care for a family member, especially if the employee has used up all of their paid time off.

Fortunately, we have Paid Family Leave in NYS, which also holds the employee’s job while they’re out. I’ve helped a few clients’ employees navigate the NY Paid Family Leave process over the last few months. Recently, I heard from a colleague with an HR department located out of state; unfortunately, their out-of-state HR department didn’t seem up to speed on how to access NY Paid Family Leave.

Help is a URL away; here’s a comprehensive website on accessing NY Paid Family Leave to care for family members for both employers and their employees:

Paid Family Leave for Family Care

Paid Family Leave can be taken to care for a family member with a serious health condition.

As well as a helpline open during regular business hours to help both employers and their employees navigate NY Paid Family Leave:

(844) 337-6303.

NY Paid Family Leave is fairly straightforward – it’s a rider on the employer’s NYS short term disability insurance.

Covered employees become eligible to take Paid Family Leave for a qualifying event once they have met the minimum time-worked requirements:

  • Full-time employees: Employees who work a regular schedule of 20 or more hours per week are eligible after 26 consecutive weeks of employment.
  • Part-time employees: Employees who work a regular schedule of less than 20 hours per week are eligible after working 175 days, which do not need to be consecutive. Employees with irregular schedules should look at their average schedule to determine if they work, on average, fewer than 20 hours per week.

In order to qualify for NY Paid Family Leave, the employee’s family member’s doctor needs to certify them as the primary caretaker – the employee completes the employee part of the PFL application form first; then the employee’s family member’s doctor completes their section; and then finally, their employer must complete their portion of the form – the employer has 3 days to get it back to the employee – then the employee is responsible for submitting the completed form to their company’s short term disability carrier – they have 18 days to respond to the employee (If the employee needs to start care for their family member immediately, the PFL benefits are retroactive – they don’t need to wait to start care.).

Here are the benefits for 2020:

  • The Paid Family Leave wage replacement benefit is increasing. In 2020, employees taking Paid Family Leave will receive 60% of their average weekly wage, up to a cap of 60% of the current Statewide Average Weekly Wage of $1,401.17.
  • The maximum weekly benefit for 2020 is $840.70.
  • PFL must be taken in increments of no less than 1 day.

Happy, healthy and safe holidays to all!