As of Jan. 1, New York State became the first state to offer paid time off for employees to receive prenatal care. While the paid prenatal leave law fills an important gap in New York’s legal framework, it may raise some concerns relating to employee privacy. This article discusses New York State’s paid prenatal leave, and the questions that remain open as New York employers offer this benefit for the first time.
On April 22, 2024, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law the requirement that private employers in New York provide paid time off for employees to attend pregnancy-related medical appointments. “No pregnant woman in New York should be forced to choose between a paycheck and a check-up – and that’s why I pushed to create the nation’s first paid prenatal leave policy,” announced Gov. Hochul.[1]
The paid prenatal leave law builds on a series of steps New York has taken to protect reproductive health care in recent years. Most notably, in December 2024, New York ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, which enshrined in the New York State Constitution the right to be free of discrimination based on reproductive health care and autonomy, pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes.[2]
Gov. Hochul first introduced paid prenatal leave as an amendment to New York State’s sick leave law, New York Labor Law Section 196-b, during the state’s 2024-25 Executive Budget proposal.[3] Shortly before the law took effect on Jan. 1, the New York...
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