New York Paid Family Leave gives most private-sector employees in the state up to 12 weeks of job-protected, partially paid time off in a rolling 52-week period to bond with a new child, care for a seriously ill family member, or manage certain needs tied to a relative’s military deployment abroad. In 2026, the benefit pays 67% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,228.53 per week. The program is funded entirely by employee payroll deductions, set at 0.432% of gross wages for 2026, with an annual contribution cap of $411.91.
One boundary to know up front: PFL does not cover your own serious health condition. If you’re the one who’s sick, injured, or recovering from childbirth, that falls under short-term disability, not PFL.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility turns on your schedule and tenure, not your job title.
- If you work 20 or more hours per week on a regular schedule, you qualify after 26 consecutive weeks with your employer.
- If you work fewer than 20 hours per week, you qualify after 175 days of actual work.
Full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees are all covered once they cross the applicable threshold. Domestic workers who meet those same thresholds are covered too. Self-employed people and independent contractors aren’t automatically in the program but can opt in voluntarily by buying coverage through a PFL insurance carrier. Some public employees are covered if their employer or union has negotiated inclusion.
When You Can Waive Coverage
You can file a waiver to skip PFL and the payroll deduction that funds it only if your job won’t last long enough to make you eligible. That means working 20 or more hours per week but not staying 26 consecutive weeks, or working fewer than 20 hours and not reaching 175 days within a 52-week stretch. If your schedule or tenure later crosses the eligibility line, the waiver is automatically revoked and deductions start.
Reasons You Can Take Leave
PFL covers three categories:
- Bonding with a new child by birth, adoption, or foster care placement. Bonding leave must be used within the first 12 months after the child arrives.
- Caring for a family member with a serious health condition that requires continuing treatment or inpatient care from a health care provider.
- Assisting with qualifying needs when your spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent is deployed to active military service abroad.
The definition of “family member” is broad. It includes spouse, domestic partner, child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, and sibling. Siblings were added in 2023 and include biological, adopted, step-, and half-siblings, with no requirement that the sibling live in New York or even in the United States.
How Much the Benefit Pays
PFL pays 67% of your average weekly wage, capped at 67% of the New York State Average Weekly Wage. For 2026, the statewide average is $1,833.63, which puts the maximum weekly benefit at $1,228.53. If you earn less than the statewide average, you receive 67% of your own wage. There’s no minimum benefit floor.
You can take up to 12 weeks in any rolling 52-week period. Your weekly benefit stays the same across the leave. Payments come from your employer’s PFL insurance carrier, not from your employer’s payroll.
What Comes Out of Your Paycheck
PFL is entirely employee-funded. For 2026, the payroll deduction is 0.432% of gross wages, with an annual cap of $411.91. Once your contributions hit that cap during the calendar year, deductions stop for the rest of the year.
How to Apply
Every claim starts with Form PFL-1. You complete Part A, which asks for your personal information, Social Security number, and your employer’s Federal Employer Identification Number. Your employer completes Part B. Then you add the supplemental form that matches your reason for leave:
- Bonding leave: Form PFL-2, plus documentation of the birth, adoption, or foster care placement.
- Caregiving leave: Form PFL-3, which documents your relationship to the family member, and Form PFL-4, a medical certification completed by the family member’s health care provider.
- Military family leave: Form PFL-5, plus military documentation confirming the active duty deployment.
Forms are available from your employer, the employer’s PFL insurance carrier, or the official New York State Paid Family Leave website. Submit the completed package directly to the carrier, not to your employer and not to the state.
Notice to Your Employer
If your leave is foreseeable, such as a due date, a planned adoption, or a scheduled deployment, give your employer at least 30 days of written notice. If the need is unexpected, notify your employer as soon as you reasonably can. Late notice doesn’t automatically disqualify you, but it can delay when benefits begin.
The Carrier’s 18-Day Deadline
Once the insurance carrier has your complete application, it has 18 calendar days to either approve and begin paying your claim or issue a written denial. That deadline is set by law, not company policy.
Taking Leave in Pieces
You don’t have to use all 12 weeks at once. PFL can be taken intermittently, but only in full-day increments. Each day counts as one day against your total. That works well for caregiving on treatment days or for spreading bonding leave across several months of a child’s first year.
Your Job Is Protected
When you return from PFL, your employer must restore you to the same position or to a comparable position with equivalent pay, benefits, and working conditions. Benefits you accrued before leave, such as vacation time and seniority, stay intact, though you don’t accrue new benefits during the leave itself.
Your employer cannot fire you, cut your pay, reduce your benefits, or discipline you for requesting or taking PFL. These protections come from Sections 203-b and 120 of the Workers’ Compensation Law. If your employer retaliates, you can file a formal reinstatement request using Form PFL-DC-119 with the Workers’ Compensation Board. The employer then has 30 days from receiving that form to take corrective action or explain in writing why it won’t. If the Board finds a violation, it can order reinstatement, award back pay with interest, require the employer to pay your attorney’s fees, and impose a penalty of up to $500. Retaliation damages come out of the employer’s own pocket, not the insurance carrier’s.
If Your Claim Is Denied
Denials go to binding arbitration through National Arbitration and Mediation (NAM), the organization designated by New York to handle PFL disputes. Filing costs $25, and you send your request form and supporting documents to both NAM and the insurance carrier. You can file online or by mail. The arbitrator decides on the papers alone, so you don’t appear in person. The decision is final and cannot be appealed further, so send in thorough documentation the first time.
PFL, Short-Term Disability, and FMLA
Short-term disability and PFL are separate benefits, and you can’t collect both at the same time. Across both programs combined, you cannot receive more than 26 weeks of benefits in any 52-week period.
This matters most after childbirth. A birth parent may qualify for short-term disability to cover medical recovery from delivery and for PFL to cover bonding time. You can take disability first and then start PFL any time within the child’s first 12 months, or skip disability and go straight to PFL. Each benefit needs its own application and documentation. Because the 26-week combined cap applies, using the full disability benefit leaves fewer weeks available for bonding.
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act is a different program. FMLA offers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for employees at companies with 50 or more workers who have logged at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months. PFL has no employer-size requirement and uses the eligibility thresholds above. When your leave qualifies under both, your employer can generally run them at the same time, so your 12 weeks of PFL and 12 weeks of FMLA overlap rather than stack. You get paid through PFL during leave that FMLA would otherwise leave unpaid, but you don’t get 24 total weeks. FMLA covers your own serious health condition; PFL doesn’t.
Health Insurance and Taxes During Leave
Your employer must keep your group health insurance in place while you’re on PFL, on the same terms as if you were still working. Family coverage stays family coverage. If premiums change while you’re out, you pay the new rate, just as you would on the job. You remain responsible for your normal share of the premium. If your premium payment runs more than 30 days late, your employer can drop coverage, but only after mailing you a written notice at least 15 days before coverage ends.
PFL benefits are taxable at the federal level. New York reports payments on Form 1099-G, and you include them as income on your federal return. Federal income tax generally isn’t withheld from PFL payments automatically, so setting money aside or adjusting withholding on other income helps avoid a surprise at tax time. At the state level, PFL benefits are not subject to New York state income tax, and your payroll contributions are deducted on a post-tax basis, so you’ve already paid income tax on the money that funds them.