Family leave comes to NY

Nation’s most generous plan

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 she’ll also have an extra safety net.

Under New York state’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, full- and parttime employees can take up to eight weeks of paid leave and receive 50 percent of their average wage, up to a weekly cap of $652. When the phase-in is complete in 2021, they’ll be able to take up to 12 weeks at two-thirds of their average weekly wage.

“This is going to be lifechanging, especially for low-wage workers,” said Nancy Rankin of the Community Service Society, a group that advocates for low-income New Yorkers. “Those are the workers who . . . are barely getting by. It’s a real crisis when they have a new child or ill family member.”

Workers pay for the leave through a payroll deduction of up to $1.65 a week.