New York City has amended rules under the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) relating to paid personal prenatal leave. The new rules are effective July 2, 2025.
The Details
Background
The New York State Paid Prenatal Leave entitlement went into effect on Jan, 1, 2025 and New York employers’ paid prenatal leave obligations were historically determined by the state law.
New York City recently amended the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”) Rules (the “amended rules”). The amended rules include paid prenatal leave requirements that incorporate and enhance New York state prenatal leave protections. The amendments go into effect on July 2, 2025.
Amended Rules
The amended rules include several changes and new employer obligations related to prenatal leave including but not limited to the following:
· Amount of leave: Employers that employ workers in New York City must provide a separate bank of 20 hours of paid prenatal leave.
· Carryover requirements: Paid prenatal leave does not carryover from year to year but can be used for more than one pregnancy during the 52-week period.
· Overtime clarification: An employer is not required to pay the overtime rate of pay when an employee uses paid prenatal leave during hours that would have been designated as overtime
· Policy Requirements: The existing obligation to create and distribute a policy related to ESSTA is expanded to require that the policy addresses paid prenatal leave entitlements. Employers must distribute their written safe and sick time and paid prenatal leave policies to employees personally upon hire and within 14 days of the effective date of any policy changes and upon an employee’s request.
Therefore, all New York City employers have an obligation to modify their current policy and reissue the revised policy to current employees.
· Employee Notice of Rights - Distribution and Posting Requirements: The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has issued an updated Notice of Employee Rights that includes paid prenatal leave requirements. The updated notice must be provided to new hires and to current employees when rights change (which applies here), and employers must maintain a record of receipt by the employee. The notice also must be posted.
· Pay Statement Requirements: An employer must give the employee the following information in writing either on a pay statement or other form of written documentation for each pay period that an employee uses paid prenatal leave:
o The amount of paid prenatal leave used during the pay period; and
o The total amount of paid prenatal leave still available to use in the 52-week period.
Note that under updated agency FAQs (FAQ Number 6), this information can be provided by an electronic system in certain instances. This requirement is similar to the existing requirement for notice of paid sick and safe time.
Next steps
· Review the amended rules for complete details.
· Review and update leave and pay policies and procedures.
· Train supervisors on the amended rules by July 2, 2025.
· ADP TotalSource previously shared information on New York State’s paid prenatal leave requirement in Jan. 2025.