Allows an employee to use paid sick leave for bereavement upon the death of a family member, or upon pregnancy loss by the employee or the employee's spouse or domestic partner or upon a foster child leaving a foster family provided the foster child was in the care of the foster family for six months or longer.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8892
IN SENATE
January 13, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. FERNANDEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to the use of paid sick leave
for bereavement purposes
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 196-b of the labor law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 4-b to read as follows:
3 4-b. (a) On and after January first, two thousand twenty-seven and
4 upon the oral or written request of an employee, an employer shall
5 provide accrued sick leave for the following purposes:
6 (i) for bereavement upon the death of a family member, or upon preg-
7 nancy loss by the employee or the employee's spouse or domestic partner;
8 or
9 (ii) upon a foster child leaving a foster family provided the foster
10 child was in the care of the foster family for six months or longer.
11 (b) If the employee has used their allotted paid sick hours for that
12 calendar year, such employee shall be allowed to take unpaid sick time
13 in an amount not to exceed five days.
14 § 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2027.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13888-02-5
