What Nannies Need to Know About New York Paid Family Leave

We posted an article about how the upcoming New York Paid Family Leave (PFL) law will affect household employers, but nannies and other household employees may have many questions about how they can use this new benefit. ShelterPoint has put together this handy list of things nannies should know about using New York Paid Family Leave.

1. For foreseeable events (such as birth or scheduled treatments/therapy), you should provide your employer with a 30-day notice of intent before using PFL benefits. If you are not able to provide this notice due to the sudden nature of the qualifying event (such as a family member’s stroke, emergency delivery, or short-notice deployment), you are still entitled to the leave but have to notify the employer as soon as reasonably practicable (typically within 2 days).
2. If you take intermittent leave, your employer has the right to require you to provide notice before each day of leave – even if it is a regular schedule.
3. There is no “waiting period.”
4. Once on leave, you will receive a monetary PFL benefit (partial income replacement) from your employer’s DBL/PFL insurance carrier.
5. You can’t take DBL and PFL at the same time, i.e, receive benefits for both concurrently. They have to be taken in sequence. And if you qualify for both DBL and PFL, the combined duration cannot exceed 26 weeks in a consecutive 52-week period (whether using those benefits for the same or different qualifying event).
6. Your employer cannot require you to use up any accumulated paid time off (such as sick/vacation days) before letting you go out on paid family leave.
7. You have, however, the option to use any vacation days during your Paid Family Leave, thereby receiving your full salary as opposed to the percentage provided for by PFL. However, if you do this:
   • You will not be able to collect both paid time off (such as vacation pay) and monetary Paid Family Leave benefits simultaneously.
   • In this case, PFL provides only the job protection aspect.
8. Paid Family Leave provides more than just a monetary benefit – it provides job security similar to unpaid leave under FMLA, but regardless of the size of the employer.
   • When returning from PFL, you are entitled to return to your same or comparable position
   • If your employer declines to reinstate you when returning from PFL, you have the right to report this to NY State
9. If you have health insurance through your employer, it’s continued at your usual coverage level and contribution amount as if you weren’t on leave.

Source: http://pfl.shelterpoint.com/for-employees

Contact us at (518) 348-0400 for more information.