2025 began with New York Governor Kathy Hochul expanding
\nbenefits and protections for pregnant employees: part of an
\ninitiative to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in NY.
\nAmong these changes is a requirement that all employers, regardless
\nof size, provide their employees with at least 20 hours of paid
\nprenatal leave for every 52-week period for prenatal care.
\n“Prenatal Care” is defined as “health care services
\nreceived by an employee during their pregnancy or related to such
\npregnancy, including physical examinations, medical procedures,
\nmonitoring and testing, and discussions with a health care provider
\nrelated to the pregnancy.”<\/p>\n
Then in May, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker
\nProtection (DCWP) finalized its own amendments to employee leave
\nrequirements in the Rules of the City of New York (RCNY). These
\namendments don’t just incorporate but expand upon NYS
\nPrenatal Personal Leave law. As of July 2025, Employers in New York
\nCity have additional requirements to accommodate\u2014both in
\nnotifying employees and record-keeping.<\/p>\n
What Must NYC Employer
\nUpdated Policies Include?<\/p>\n
Shared Requirements of
\nNYS and NYC Paid Prenatal Personal Leave Law (PPPL)<\/p>\n
These 2025 amendments (Labor Law \u00a7 196-b) guarantee all
\nprivate-sector employees in New York 20 hours of paid leave for
\nprenatal healthcare appointments, both before and during the course
\nof their pregnancy. Regardless of size, employers must offer 20
\nhours of paid prenatal leave in addition to other benefits (like
\nsick leave). Employers may not force employees to expend other
\nforms of leave\u2014such as vacation time\u2014to accommodate
\nprenatal care needs.<\/p>\n
There is no minimum amount of time an employee must work for an
\nemployer before earning access to paid prenatal Personal leave. The
\n20 hours are not tied to any calendar year; they are based on a
\n52-week period from the first time an employee uses the leave.
\nEmployees must notify employers they are using the Paid Prenatal
\nLeave in the same way they would request or notify the employer
\nregarding other time off.<\/p>\n
The NYS Prenatal Leave Law (Labor Law \u00a7 196-b) specifies
\nthat the 20 hours of paid prenatal leave is only for the employee
\nwho is pregnant to attend their own prenatal healthcare
\nappointment. Meaning, partners are not entitled to take this
\nspecific form of leave for their partner’s medical
\nvisits.<\/p>\n
Under NYS law, employers are not beholden to any additional
\nrecord-keeping requirements specific to paid prenatal leave. Nor
\nare employers required to pay this prenatal leave out should it go
\nunused by an employee, whatever the employee’s pregnancy
\nstatus.<\/p>\n
Also, this 20 hours is mandated per 52-week period
What Additional ESSTA
New York City employers have three requirements in addition to
1. DCWP Notice of Employee
NYC employers have until August 1, 2025<\/strong> to
2. Update Written Policy in
NYC Employers have until July 16, 2025,<\/strong> to both
By NYS law, employers must permit employees to use prenatal
NYC rules, however, further allow employers to establish a
3. Enhanced Record Keeping
NYS law does not provide much guidance on record-keeping beyond
For any pay period an employee makes use of this benefit,
NYC Employers are Beholden to
New York City employers are now responsible for compliance with
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
\n(beginning from the first day of claimed leave), not per
\npregnancy. Should an employee have multiple pregnancies over a
\nsingle 52-week period, employers are only required to furnish 20
\nhours of paid prenatal leave over that time. Bear in mind that
\nemployers remain beholden to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act<\/a> (PWFA), which
\nrequires reasonable accommodations be provided to employees facing
\nlimitations due to pregnancy.<\/p>\n
\nRequirements Do NYC Employers Have Under RCNY?<\/p>\n
\ntheir New York State requirements: to provide DCWP notice of
\nemployee rights, update their written policies in compliance with
\nESSTA Paid Prenatal Personal Leave amendments, and enhanced record
\nkeeping\/communication of employees’ available leave
\nbalance.<\/p>\n
\nRights<\/p>\n
\nprovide their employees with the NYC Department of Consumer and
\nWorker Protection’s (DCWP) most recent Notice of Employee Rights<\/a> in an area\/s both
\navailable and conspicuous to all employees.<\/p>\n
\nCompliance with ESSTA Paid Prenatal Leave Amendments<\/p>\n
\nupdate their employee policies and distribute that written policy
\nto their employees. Employer policies must reflect NYS and
\nNYC amendments to Paid Safe and Sick Leave Law. The DCWP, who
\nenforces NYC ESSTA, has published a FAQ guide for employers<\/a> which reflects these
\nupdates.<\/p>\n
\nleave in HOURLY increments. Meaning, if an employee only needs one
\nhour of paid prenatal leave to attend a healthcare appointment, and
\nthe employee is available to work the remaining hours of the day,
\nthe employee must be permitted to work those hours. This state
\nrequirement must be reflected in your written employer
\npolicies.<\/p>\n
\nminimum time increment of paid prenatal leave shorter than
\none hour\u2014provided it is reasonable to do so. For example, an
\nemployer can establish 30-minute increments. In that case, should
\nan employee require only 30 minutes of leave for an appointment,
\nthat employee is free to work the other 30 minutes of that hour and
\nkeeps the remaining 30 minutes of unused leave. Your written
\npolicies must reflect the minimum time increment your employees may
\nuse for paid prenatal leave: whether it is one hour or less than
\none hour.<\/p>\n
\nand Communication of Available Paid Prenatal Leave Balance<\/p>\n
\nrecommending it in general. NYC employers, however, are now
\nrequired to maintain records of paid prenatal leave for at least
\nthree years.<\/p>\n
\nemployers are also required to provide statements (such as
\npaystubs) with the amount used and their remaining balance of
\navailable paid prenatal leave for that 52-week period.<\/p>\n
\nNYS and NYC Law<\/p>\n
\nthese NYC-specific additions to extant New York State paid prenatal leave<\/a>. Take care
\nto ensure your payment practices and leave policies are in accord
\nwith these updated NYC policies, as well as the other NYS changes impacting paid leave<\/a> that
\nhave taken effect in 2025.<\/p>\n
\nguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
\nabout your specific circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 began with New York Governor Kathy Hochul expanding
benefits and protections for pregnant employees: part of an
…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-210398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115169145853295448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}