Permits paid family leave in four-hour increments; prohibits family leave benefits from being payable if an employee works more than one four-hour increment in one day.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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11696
IN ASSEMBLY
September 2, 2026
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Hevesi) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to permitting
paid family leave in four-hour increments
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 14 of section 201 of the workers' compensation
2 law, as amended by section 2 of part SS of chapter 54 of the laws of
3 2016, is amended to read as follows:
4 14. "A day of disability" means any day on which the employee was
5 prevented from performing work because of disability[, including any day
6 which the employee uses for family leave,] and for which the employee
7 has not received [his or her] the employee's regular remuneration.
8 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 204 of the workers' compensation law, as
9 amended by section 5 of part SS of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, is
10 amended to read as follows:
11 1. Disability benefits shall be payable to an eligible employee for
12 disabilities, beginning with the eighth day of disability and thereafter
13 during the continuance of disability, subject to the limitations as to
14 maximum and minimum amounts and duration and other conditions and limi-
15 tations in this section and in sections two hundred five and two hundred
16 six of this article. Family leave benefits shall be payable to an eligi-
17 ble employee for the first [full day] four-hour increment when family
18 leave is required and thereafter during the continuance of the need for
19 family leave, subject to the limitations as to maximum and minimum
20 amounts and duration and other conditions and limitations in this
21 section and in sections two hundred five and two hundred six of this
22 article. Successive periods of disability or family leave caused by the
23 same or related injury or sickness shall be deemed a single period of
24 disability or family leave only if separated by less than three months.
25 § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 204 of the workers'
26 compensation law, as added by section 5 of part SS of chapter 54 of the
27 laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16248-01-6
A. 11696 2
1 (a) The weekly benefit for family leave that occurs (i) on or after
2 January first, two thousand eighteen shall not exceed eight weeks during
3 any fifty-two week calendar period and shall be fifty percent of the
4 employee's average weekly wage but shall not exceed fifty percent of the
5 state average weekly wage, (ii) on or after January first, two thousand
6 nineteen shall not exceed ten weeks during any fifty-two week calendar
7 period and shall be fifty-five percent of the employee's average weekly
8 wage but shall not exceed fifty-five percent of the state average weekly
9 wage, (iii) on or after January first, two thousand twenty shall not
10 exceed ten weeks during any fifty-two week calendar period and shall be
11 sixty percent of the employee's average weekly wage but shall not exceed
12 sixty percent of the state average weekly wage, and (iv) on or after
13 January first of each succeeding year, shall not exceed twelve weeks
14 during any fifty-two week calendar period and shall be sixty-seven
15 percent of the employee's average weekly wage but shall not exceed
16 sixty-seven percent of the New York state average weekly wage in effect.
17 The superintendent of financial services shall have discretion to delay
18 the increases in the family leave benefit level provided in subpara-
19 graphs (ii), (iii), and (iv) of this paragraph by one or more calendar
20 years. In determining whether to delay the increase in the family leave
21 benefit for any year, the superintendent of financial services shall
22 consider: (1) the current cost to employees of the family leave benefit
23 and any expected change in the cost after the benefit increase; (2) the
24 current number of insurers issuing insurance policies with a family
25 leave benefit and any expected change in the number of insurers issuing
26 such policies after the benefit increase; (3) the impact of the benefit
27 increase on employers' business and the overall stability of the program
28 to the extent that information is readily available; (4) the impact of
29 the benefit increase on the financial stability of the disability and
30 family leave insurance market and carriers; and (5) any additional
31 factors that the superintendent of financial services deems relevant. If
32 the superintendent of financial services delays the increase in the
33 family leave benefit level for one or more calendar years, the family
34 leave benefit level that shall take effect immediately following the
35 delay shall be the same benefit level that would have taken effect but
36 for the delay. The weekly benefits for family leave that occurs on or
37 after January first, two thousand eighteen shall not be less than one
38 hundred dollars per week except that if the employee's wages at the time
39 of family leave are less than one hundred dollars per week, the employee
40 shall receive [his or her] their full wages. Benefits may be payable to
41 employees for paid family leave taken intermittently or for less than a
42 full work week in increments of [one full day] four hours or one [fifth]
43 tenth of the weekly benefit.
44 § 4. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 205 of the workers'
45 compensation law, as amended by section 6 of part SS of chapter 54 of
46 the laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
47 (a) For more than twenty-six weeks minus any [days] four-hour incre-
48 ment taken for family leave during any fifty-two consecutive calendar
49 weeks during a period of fifty-two consecutive calendar weeks or during
50 any one period of disability, or for more than twenty-six weeks;
51 § 5. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 3 of section 205 of the
52 workers' compensation law, as amended by section 6 of part SS of chapter
53 54 of the laws of 2016, are amended and a new paragraph (b-1) is added
54 to read as follows:
55 (b) for any day of disability [or family leave] during which the
56 employee performed work for remuneration or profit;
A. 11696 3
1 (b-1) for any day of family leave during which the employee performed
2 work for remuneration or profit for more than one four-hour increment;
3 (c) for any day of disability or any four-hour increment of family
4 leave for which the employee is entitled to receive from [his or her]
5 their employer, or from a fund to which the employer has contributed,
6 remuneration or maintenance in an amount equal to or greater than that
7 to which [he or she] such employee would be entitled under this article;
8 but any voluntary contribution or aid which an employer may make to an
9 employee or any supplementary benefit paid to an employee pursuant to
10 the provisions of a collective bargaining agreement or from a trust fund
11 to which contributions are made pursuant to the provisions of a collec-
12 tive bargaining agreement shall not be considered as continued remunera-
13 tion or maintenance for this purpose;
14 § 6. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of section 206 of the workers'
15 compensation law, as added by section 7 of part SS of chapter 54 of the
16 laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
17 (d) for any day in which claimant works [at least part of that day]
18 more than one four-hour increment for remuneration or profit for the
19 covered employer or for any other employer while working for remunera-
20 tion or profit, for [him or herself] themself, or another person or
21 entity, during the same or substantially similar working hours as those
22 of the covered employer from which family leave benefits are claimed,
23 except that occasional scheduling adjustments with respect to secondary
24 employments shall not prevent receipt of family leave benefits.
25 § 7. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
26 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
27 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
28 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
29 completed on or before such effective date.
