Most private-sector employees in New York meet the NYPFL eligibility requirements once they have worked long enough for a covered employer and have a qualifying family reason to take leave. If you work 20 or more hours a week, you qualify after 26 consecutive weeks with the same employer. If you work fewer than 20 hours a week, you qualify after 175 days of work within a 52-week period. Citizenship and immigration status do not affect eligibility.1Paid Family Leave. New York Paid Family Leave Updates for 2025
Is Your Employer Covered
Paid Family Leave applies to private-sector employers. A covered employer is any private employer that has had at least one employee for 30 or more days in a calendar year.2New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Code 202 – Covered Employer That definition sweeps in nearly every private business in the state, from a sole shop with one hire up to the largest corporation.
Public employers are a different story, and that’s covered further down. If you work for a private company that has had you (or anyone else) on payroll for at least 30 days, assume the employer is covered and move on to the time-worked question.
How Long You Need to Have Worked
Your eligibility clock depends on your schedule.
- Working 20 or more hours per week: you become eligible after 26 consecutive weeks with the same employer.
- Working fewer than 20 hours per week: you become eligible after 175 days of actual work within any consecutive 52-week period. The days do not need to be back to back.
Seasonal workers qualify under the same rules once they meet the applicable threshold. The thresholds apply regardless of citizenship or immigration status; New York law bars employers from using those factors to deny access to Paid Family Leave.1Paid Family Leave. New York Paid Family Leave Updates for 2025
Hitting the time-worked threshold makes you eligible. It doesn’t by itself entitle you to leave. You still need a qualifying reason.
Qualifying Reasons to Use the Leave
New York recognizes three categories of events that unlock Paid Family Leave benefits, with up to 12 weeks of job-protected, partially paid time off in a 52-week period.3Paid Family Leave. Employees – New York State Paid Family Leave
Bonding With a New Child
You can take leave to bond with a newborn, a newly adopted child, or a newly placed foster child. The leave must be used within the first 12 months after birth or placement, and both parents have equal access regardless of gender.1Paid Family Leave. New York Paid Family Leave Updates for 2025 You can take the full 12 weeks in one stretch or spread it across the year in full-day increments.
Caring for a Family Member With a Serious Health Condition
A serious health condition means one that requires inpatient care or ongoing treatment from a healthcare provider. Routine checkups and minor illnesses don’t qualify. The covered family members are your spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, including biological, adopted, half, and step-siblings.4Paid Family Leave. Paid Family Leave for Family Care
Military Family Needs
If your spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent is on active military duty or has been notified of an impending deployment to a foreign country, you can use Paid Family Leave to handle qualifying needs tied to that deployment. Those include arranging childcare, handling legal and financial affairs, and attending military events.5Paid Family Leave. New York State Paid Family Leave
Across all three categories, leave can be taken continuously or intermittently. Intermittent leave must be used in full-day increments; there is no half-day option, and each day counts as one day toward your annual 12-week allotment.4Paid Family Leave. Paid Family Leave for Family Care
Public Employees Are Not Automatically Covered
State agencies, municipalities, school districts, and other public employers do not fall under the mandate. They can opt in voluntarily at any time, but without that step their employees have no access to Paid Family Leave.6Paid Family Leave. Public Employers – Paid Family Leave
If you are in a union, your public employer cannot opt in for represented employees without collectively bargaining the decision. The resulting agreement can set terms that differ from the standard PFL regulations, but the benefits must be at least as favorable as what the statute requires. A union that has bargained into PFL can also later negotiate to stop providing it.6Paid Family Leave. Public Employers – Paid Family Leave
For unrepresented public employees, the employer decides on its own whether to provide coverage. If your public employer has not opted in and no union agreement includes PFL, you are ineligible no matter how long you have worked there.
Workers Carved Out of the Mandate
Certain roles are exempt from mandatory coverage. Private employers aren’t required to cover them, though they may choose to do so voluntarily. The exempt categories are:
- Clergy and religious workers, including ministers, priests, rabbis, members of religious orders, sextons, and Christian Science readers.
- Executive officers of incorporated religious, charitable, or educational institutions.
- Individuals working in a professional or teaching capacity for a religious, charitable, or educational institution that qualifies under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code.
- Individuals who receive aid from a religious or charitable institution and perform work in exchange for that aid.
These exemptions apply to specific roles at qualifying nonprofit institutions, not broadly to every nonprofit employee.7Paid Family Leave. Private Employer Coverage Requirements – Paid Family Leave
Domestic workers are covered, but only if they work at least 40 hours per week for a single employer who has employed them for at least 30 days. A part-time nanny working 25 hours a week for one family falls outside the mandate.1Paid Family Leave. New York Paid Family Leave Updates for 2025
Self-Employed Opt-In
Sole proprietors, partners, LLC members, and independent contractors are not automatically covered, but they can opt in voluntarily. Timing changes the result significantly.
If you opt in within the first 26 weeks of starting your business, you become eligible for benefits 26 weeks after obtaining your PFL policy. Wait longer than 26 weeks to opt in, and a two-year waiting period applies before you can collect any benefits.8Paid Family Leave. Self-Employed Individuals – Paid Family Leave That gap surprises a lot of people.
As a self-employed participant you pay the full premium directly to your insurance carrier. You can cancel a policy, but if you want coverage again later the carrier may ask why you canceled and may impose a new waiting period.8Paid Family Leave. Self-Employed Individuals – Paid Family Leave
Waiving Coverage If You’ll Never Qualify
If your schedule means you’ll never reach the eligibility threshold during your employment, you can file a waiver to opt out of PFL and stop the payroll deductions. The waiver is available to employees working 20 or more hours per week who won’t reach 26 consecutive weeks, and to employees working fewer than 20 hours who won’t reach 175 days in a 52-week period.
The waiver isn’t permanent. If your schedule changes so that you would now meet the threshold, the waiver automatically becomes invalid within eight weeks. Your employer then begins collecting contributions, including retroactive amounts going back to your date of hire or the start of your PFL coverage period. Filing a waiver when you truly won’t qualify saves you money on premiums you’d never use, but know that the obligation returns if your hours go up.