New York State Paid Prenatal Leave Policy

Overview

Starting January 1, 2025, the New York State Paid Prenatal Leave Law (NYS Labor Law Section 196-b) requires all private-sector employers in New York State to provide their employees with 20 hours of Paid Prenatal Leave each year. All private sector employees are entitled to Paid Prenatal Leave including those that work part-time or are overtime exempt.

Covered Prenatal Health Care Services

Employees are entitled to take Paid Prenatal Leave for prenatal health care appointments during or related to their pregnancy.

Pregnancy-related health care appointments include:

  • physical examinations
  • medical procedures
  • monitoring
  • testing
  • discussions with a health care provider needed to ensure a healthy pregnancy
  • end of pregnancy care
  • fertility treatment

Only the employee directly receiving prenatal health care may use Paid Prenatal Leave. A spouse, partner, or another support person attending prenatal appointments with a pregnant person is not entitled to Paid Prenatal Leave.

Health care appointments after pregnancy are not covered by Paid Prenatal Leave.

Existing Leave Policies

Paid Prenatal Leave is a separate, stand-alone benefit from other leave laws and policies, such as the New York State Sick Leave. AU will provide 20 hours of Paid Prenatal Leave to our employees annually in addition to any other leave options available to them.

An employee has the option to use NYS Sick Leave, Paid Prenatal Leave, or an existing AU leave policy to attend prenatal health care appointments. However, AU cannot require an employee to use one leave type over another.

No Minimum Work Requirement

An employee does not need to work a minimum number of hours to accrue Paid Prenatal Leave. All employees working for AU, including newly hired employees, are automatically entitled to 20 hours of Paid Prenatal Leave, each year.

Trigger Date and Record Keeping

Paid Prenatal Leave is measured in 52-week periods. An employee is entitled to 20 hours beginning on the date they first utilize the leave and ending 52 weeks later. For example, if an employee uses Paid Prenatal Leave for the first time on June 1st, 2025, they are entitled to 20 hours of Paid Prenatal Leave between June 1st, 2025, and May 31st, 2026. If after May 31st, 2026, that same employee next needs to use Paid Prenatal Leave on August 2nd, 2026, that date would trigger the start of 52 weeks for which the employee is entitled to 20 hours Paid Prenatal Leave.

Unused benefit hours do not carry over to the following 52-week period and all employees, regardless how long they have been with AU, are entitled to 20 hours of leave.

Compensation for Paid Prenatal Leave

AU will pay employees using Paid Prenatal Leave at their regular rate of pay, or at the appropriate minimum wage for their occupation, whichever is greater.

If an employee stops working for AU without using all of their Paid Prenatal Leave, AU is not required to pay an employee for any unused Paid Prenatal Leave hours.

Disclosure of Health Details Prohibited

AU cannot ask an employee for personal or confidential information about their health or the nature of their prenatal visit as a condition of using Paid Prenatal Leave. AU also cannot request that an employee submit medical records to use Paid Prenatal Leave.

Time-off Notification Procedures

Employees should notify Human Resources that they have the need to use Paid Prenatal Leave.

 If you have the need to use this type of leave and are hourly, you will code these hours as excused on your timesheet and put a note in the comments section of what the excused time was for.

If you are salaried, you will put a note in the comments section of your monthly leave report of how many hours/days you used towards this type of leave.

AU will allow employees to use Paid Prenatal Leave when they request it, until all 20 hours of leave they are entitled to each year have been used.

Paid Prenatal Leave Hours

AU will permit employees to take Paid Prenatal Leave in hourly increments. For example, if an employee only needs 1 hour of Paid Prenatal Leave to attend a prenatal health care appointment, but is available to work the remaining hours in the work day, they will be permitted to do so.

Retaliation and Discrimination Prohibited

It is against the law for employers to retaliate or discriminate against employees for requesting and using Paid Prenatal Leave. Examples of employer retaliation may include:

  • Reducing the number of hours of sick leave, vacation leave, or other leave an employee is entitled to because an employee uses Paid Prenatal Leave.
  • Changing an employee’s work location or hours after an employee requests to use Paid Prenatal Leave.
  • Firing or demoting an employee after they request to use Paid Prenatal Leave.

Original Effective Date: 1/1/2025