N.Y. boosts leave benefit for families

ALBANY, N.Y. — When her baby boy is born in March, Kim Lyons will have an added worry. The child needs surgery to remove extra fingers and toes. But the mother will have an extra safety net.

Under New York’s new paid family leave law, billed as the nation’s most generous, she will be able to take eight weeks off from work at half her regular pay.

“I’m so grateful that I’ll be able to take more time to spend with my newborn,” said Lyons, who lives in Highland in the Hudson Valley. The baby’s father will qualify for paid time-off, too.

On Jan. 1, New York will join California, New Jersey and Rhode Island in requiring employers to give workers paid leave to bond with a baby, care for a close relative with a serious illness or help loved ones during a family member’s military deployment.

The new benefits, which apply to 6.4 million private-sector workers, will phase in over four years.

In 2018, employees can take up to eight weeks of paid leave and receive 50 percent of their average wage, up to a cap weekly cap of $652. When the phase-in is complete in 2021, they will be able to take up to 12 weeks at two-thirds of their average weekly wage.

“This is going to be life-changing, especially for low-wage workers,” said Nancy Rankin, of the Community Service Society, a group that lobbies for low-income New Yorkers. “Those are the workers who have little or no savings, are in debt, are barely getting by. It’s a real crisis when they have a new child or ill family member.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced the paid leave legislation in his 2016 State of the State speech. He said he regretted not spending more time with his dying father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, and noted that many people don’t have that choice because they can’t afford to take time off from work.

He signed the paid leave policy into law in April 2016 along with a

$15 minimum wage plan, also being phased in.

Workers — not their employers — will bear the burden of paying for the leave through a payroll deduction of up to $1.65 a week.

“It’s the most significant human resources law in the last 30 years,” said Frank Kerbein, director of the Center for Human Resources at the Business Council of New York State, a business lobbying group.

“It’s going to create a tremendous administrative burden, particularly on smaller employers.”