New York State Maternity Leave: Pay, Eligibility & Filing

New York State maternity leave is actually two programs stacked together: short-term disability benefits that cover the birth parent’s physical recovery, and Paid Family Leave (PFL) that covers bonding with the baby. Used back to back, they can give a birth parent up to 26 weeks of paid time off in a 52-week period. Disability pays up to $170 per week. Paid Family Leave pays 67% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,228.53 per week in 2026. Your job is protected, your health insurance continues, and both parents can take bonding leave for the same child.

How Much Time Off and How Much Pay

The two programs do different jobs and pay very differently.

Disability benefits cover the birth parent only, and only for the medical window around delivery. Payments can start up to four weeks before your due date and continue for six weeks after a vaginal birth or eight weeks after a cesarean, with your doctor or certified nurse midwife certifying the dates you cannot work. If complications extend recovery, disability can run up to 26 weeks total with medical documentation. The maximum weekly payment in 2026 is $170.¹² That cap is not a typo, and it is the main reason the bonding benefit matters so much.

Paid Family Leave gives you up to 12 weeks of bonding time at 67% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,228.53 per week in 2026.³ If 67% of your actual pay is below the cap, you receive 67% of what you earn. Both parents can take bonding leave for the same child, even if they work for the same employer.

Combined, disability and PFL cannot exceed 26 weeks in any 52-week period.⁴

Who Qualifies

Nearly every private employer in New York with at least one employee carries Paid Family Leave insurance. Company size does not matter. Your eligibility depends on your schedule:

If you work 20 or more hours per week, you qualify after 26 consecutive weeks of employment.
If you work fewer than 20 hours per week, you qualify after 175 days of actual work for your employer.

These thresholds count only your time with your current employer. Once you hit the mark, you stay covered as long as you remain there.⁴

One boundary to flag: public employees are not automatically covered. State and local government workers, including school districts and public authorities, only have PFL if their employer has voluntarily opted in. Check with your human resources office.⁵

A Typical Timeline

For a birth parent with a vaginal delivery, the standard sequence is four weeks of disability before the due date, six weeks of disability after delivery, then up to twelve weeks of Paid Family Leave bonding. That totals 22 weeks, within the 26-week cap. A cesarean shifts the post-birth disability period from six to eight weeks.¹

Non-birth parents have no disability period because there is no physical recovery to cover. They have access to the 12 weeks of Paid Family Leave only.

How to File

Give your employer at least 30 days’ written notice if you know your leave date in advance. If the birth happens earlier than expected, notify your employer as soon as you reasonably can.⁶

Two forms drive the PFL bonding claim:³

Form PFL-1 (Request for Paid Family Leave). You complete Part A with your personal and leave details, then hand it to your employer, who completes Part B and returns it within three days.
Form PFL-2 (Bonding Certification), plus supporting documents.

What counts as supporting documentation depends on your relationship to the child. A birth parent provides either a copy of the child’s birth certificate or a health care provider’s certification showing the parent’s name and the due or birth dates. A non-birth parent provides a birth certificate naming them as a parent, a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage, or a court order establishing parentage. If none of those are available, a non-birth parent can submit proof of the relationship to the birth parent (such as a marriage certificate) along with the birth documentation.³

If you are also claiming disability for the medical recovery period, you need a separate medical certification from your doctor or certified nurse midwife stating that your disability is due to pregnancy or recovery from delivery.¹

Once your employer returns the signed PFL-1, submit the whole package (PFL-1, PFL-2, and supporting documents) to your employer’s Paid Family Leave insurance carrier. The carrier then has 18 calendar days from receiving a completed request to approve and pay, or to deny.⁷ Approved claims pay out weekly or biweekly. Missing fields and unsigned forms are the top reason for delays, so review each section before you send it.

Job Protection and Health Insurance

When you return from Paid Family Leave, your employer must restore you to the same position or a comparable one with equivalent pay and benefits.⁸ During your leave, your health insurance must continue on the same terms as if you were still working. You remain responsible for your share of the premiums, so arrange payment arrangements with your employer before you go out. If you fail to pay your portion, the employer can cancel coverage.

Retaliation is prohibited. Your employer cannot fire you, demote you, or cut your hours because you requested or took leave. If you are not reinstated, there is a specific sequence to follow. First, file a Formal Request for Reinstatement (Form PFL-DC-119) with your employer and send a copy to the Paid Family Leave office. Your employer has 30 calendar days to respond. If they do not reinstate you or you are unsatisfied with their response, file a Discrimination/Retaliation Complaint (Form PFL-DC-120) with the Workers’ Compensation Board. The Board schedules a hearing within 45 days. A judge who finds a violation can order reinstatement, back wages with interest, attorney fees, and a penalty of up to $500 against the employer.⁸

If Your Claim Is Denied

A denial letter from the carrier must state the reason and explain how to request arbitration. Benefit disputes (denials, partial denials, and late payments) go to arbitration administered by National Arbitration and Mediation, not to court.⁸ Arbitration is for disputes about whether you qualify or whether the carrier paid the correct amount. Reinstatement and retaliation issues go through the Workers’ Compensation Board process described above instead.

How It Stacks With Federal FMLA

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act offers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for bonding, but only at employers with 50 or more employees and only for workers who have logged at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months.⁹ New York’s Paid Family Leave covers far more workers.

If both laws apply, your employer can require the two leaves to run concurrently. You do not get 12 weeks of FMLA followed by 12 weeks of PFL; both clocks tick together across the same 12-week period. For concurrent treatment to apply, the employer must notify you that the leave qualifies under both programs and is being designated that way.⁴ Running them together still gives you state pay plus the federal job-protection guarantees.

Taxes on Your Benefits

Paid Family Leave benefits are taxable income on your federal return. Your insurance carrier will send a Form 1099-G or Form 1099-MISC reporting the total paid during the tax year.¹⁰ No federal tax is automatically withheld, so set money aside or make an estimated payment to avoid a surprise. New York State does not tax PFL benefits on your state return. The payroll deductions you contributed to the program are treated as state tax deductions for state income tax purposes, so keep your pay stubs or year-end earnings statement when you file.

1
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. Employee Eligibility / Benefits
2
New York State Insurance Fund. NYSIF Lowers Standard Disability Benefits Premium Rate 2026
3
Paid Family Leave. Bonding Leave for the Birth of a Child
4
Paid Family Leave. Paid Family Leave and Other Benefits
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Paid Family Leave. Public Employers
6
Legal Information Institute. New York Comp Codes R and Regs Tit 12 380-3.1 – Employee Notice Requirements for Paid Family Leave
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Legal Information Institute. New York Comp Codes R and Regs Tit 12 380-5.4 – Acceptance or Denial of Claim
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Paid Family Leave. Your Rights and Protections
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U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. New York State Paid Family Leave