New York Mandates 20 Hours of Paid Leave for Pregnant Employees

On Jan. 1, 2025, New York became the first state in the nation to require private-sector employers, including co-op and condo boards, to provide 20 hours of paid leave per year as a stand-alone leave benefit for employees who are pregnant or are seeking to become pregnant.

The Paid Prenatal Leave Law is a separate benefit from other leave laws and policies, such as the New York State Sick Leave Law. Private employers such as cooperatives and condominiums of any size must provide 20 hours of this prenatal leave to their employees annually in addition to any other leave options available to them. This paid leave must be given to all employees, even if they are part-time, temporary, or ineligible for overtime. There is no minimum work requirement, so even newly hired employees are entitled to this leave.

Covered health care appointments include physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring, testing, end of pregnancy care, and fertility treatments. Only the employee using the prenatal care appointment is entitled to this leave. Accompanying spouses, partners or family members attending such appointments are not covered and not entitled to the leave. Any health care appointments after the birth of the child are also not covered by the leave.

A co-op or condo board cannot require an employee to use one type of leave over another when attending a prenatal appointment. For example, your superintendent wishes to attend a fertility treatment session with her partner.  She has the option to use either New York State sick leave, the new prenatal leave, or your own leave policy to attend the session. Using one type of leave does not affect the ability to use others, if necessary. New York suggests that employers record paid prenatal leave separately from other types of paid leave.

Employers must pay employees using prenatal leave at their regular rate of pay, or at the appropriate minimum wage for their occupation, whichever is greater.  Employees must be permitted to use this paid leave in hourly increments. For example, if your superintendent requires an hour for her session, she must be permitted to return to work for the remainder of the day if she is able to do so — with one hour deducted from her annual 20-hour allotment.

Employers must grant this paid prenatal leave when requested. A co-op or condo board cannot require an employee to submit medical records in order to use this leave. Boards also cannot ask about the nature of the appointment or about the employee's health as a condition of granting the leave.

Prenatal paid leave is to be used within a 52-week period. For example, if your superintendent first uses the leave on August 1, 2025, she is entitled to the 20 hours of leave between then and July 31, 2026.  She can use the leave for more than one pregnancy within that 52-week period, but any unused hours do not carry over into the next 52-week period. Nor are employers required to pay any unpaid prenatal leave hours to former employees.

Co-op and condo boards should be aware that retaliation and discrimination are prohibited against an employee who either uses or requests prenatal leave. Employers cannot fire or demote an employee, change her hours, reduce her sick leave or change her work location if she either asks for or uses the paid prenatal leave.

Boards should always consult their legal counsel to ensure that they are in compliance with their own leave policies and all paid leave laws.

Andrew I. Bart is senior counsel at the law firm Kagan Lubic Lepper Finkelstein & Gold.