Employees will be able to take paid family leave to care for a sibling under a new state law that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Nov. 1. The legislation expands New York State’s Paid Family Leave law. Under the current law, employees cannot take leave to care for a sibling with a serious health condition. The new law […]
Employees will be able to take paid family leave to care for a sibling under a new state law that Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Nov. 1.
The legislation expands New York State’s Paid Family Leave law. Under the current law, employees cannot take leave to care for a sibling with a serious health condition.
The new law won’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2023, Hochul’s office said.
In remarks at the Nov. 1 bill-signing event in New York City, Hochul recalled a time in her life that she needed paid family leave.
“My husband was a public servant. I was a public servant. We didn’t have the money for extra help to come in and take care of us and we struggled. And at the time not having the leave, not having the ability to work from home, we put our personal finances aside and I ended up staying home and I understood then how this was a basic human right, to be able to take care of your newborn or your adopted child or your family members when they are desperately in need of someone to hold their hand,” Hochul said. “I’m here to declare that taking care of your family is a human right. The right to be able to not lose your income, not have to make the horrible decision of am I able to take care of an elderly parent or a newborn baby or am I going to have to give up my income? No one should have to deal with that.”
The measure builds upon the paid family leave legislation that was enacted in 2016, which “created one of the most comprehensive paid family leave programs in the nation,” Hochul’s office contends.
In effect since 2018, New York’s paid family leave program is employee-paid insurance that provides workers with 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 (which may include severe cases of COVID-19), or assist loved ones when a member of the family is deployed abroad on active military service.
Paid family leave may also be available in some situations when employees or their minor, dependent child is under an order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19. Eligible workers may take up to 12 weeks off at 67 percent of their pay (up to a cap) to care for family members in times of need, per Hochul’s office.
Paid family leave family care currently covers caring for spouses, domestic partners, children and stepchildren, parents, parents-in-law, grandparents and grandchildren with a serious health condition.
Through the legislation, the definition of “family members” expands to include siblings. This includes biological siblings, adopted siblings, stepsiblings and half-siblings. These family members can live outside of New York state and even outside the country.