Paid Family Leave was introduced in New York in January 2018 as a program to provide workers job protection and paid time off for certain qualifying events such as bonding with a new child, caring for a loved one with a serious health condition, or to assist a family when someone is deployed on active military service abroad.
For employees they can take up to 12 weeks off without the risk of losing their jobs for the situations just mentioned and receive replacement wages from PFL Insurance. The amount of wage replaced is 67% of the workers average weekly wage for the prior 8 weeks which is subject to a cap of 67% of the current statewide average weekly wage of $1,450.17. That figure is for 2021 and will change down the road and interprets to a max weekly benefit for workers of $971.61
PFL Insurance is made part of your statutory DBL or disability benefits law coverage. Almost all employers need to comply with the PFL and DBL laws, but there are some exceptions such as municipalities, farm workers, and religious organizations.
For employers and employees it’s important to know about PFL so you don’t miss out on these important benefits. Have questions on benefits, how to file a claim and what’s eligible? Contact your insurance broker for specific details or your DBL insurer – many of which have robust websites regarding PFL.
If you’re an employee anticipating to go out on leave for a qualified reason, you should discuss this with your employer at least a month before hand to allow them time to make arrangements for reassigning your job duties or hiring a temp replacement worker to fill your job, and to get the claim started with their DBL insurer.
How do you file a claim for Paid Family Leave? Employers should have claim forms from their insurer available for employees to complete, but they’re also available on most insurer websites and the NY state website for paid family leave. The employee completes Part A of the form, provides it to the Employer who fills out Part B and then submits both to the PFL insurer. The insurer then has 18 days to accept or deny coverage based on eligibility.
New York State has a great calculator for figuring out wage benefits and can be found here: New York Paid Family Leave.
If you’re watching or reading this after 2021 then insert the current year in the spot of 2021.
Looking to purchase PFL and DBL for your company? We can handle that as part of all your business insurance needs for all types of companies doing business in New York. Give me a call or drop me an email – in fact there’s a link to my calendar in the description box below where you can log in and schedule a call with me to discuss all your business insurance needs.
