On April 20, New York State Legislators approved the 2024-2025 state budget. This budget contains significant legal changes that will impact employers in the near future. These changes and their effects are discussed below. 

Paid Prenatal Leave 

As previously reported, Governor Hochul recently announced a first-in-the-nation paid parental leave program. This program expands New York State’s Paid Family Leave law and would allow pregnant employees to take an additional 20 hours of paid prenatal leave each year. Once in effect, Employees will be able to use paid prenatal leave for physical exams, monitoring, testing, and discussions with health care providers. Notably, this leave does not expand the use of Paid Family Leave for post-childbirth recovery or other health conditions.

Employers will be required to provide this leave beginning January 1, 2025.

Paid Nursing Breaks

Nursing employees will soon be entitled to paid break time to express breast milk during the workday. New York State law currently requires employers to provide nursing employees with unpaid break time to express breast milk at least every three hours if requested by the employee. Employers must also permit employees to use their paid break time or mealtime to express breast milk. Employers will soon be required to provide nursing employees with an additional 30 minutes of paid break time during the workday, in addition to other paid and unpaid break time.



Employers will be required to provide paid break time to nursing employees beginning June 19, 2024.

Covid-19 Paid Sick Leave Expiration

New York State’s Paid Sick Leave law is set to sunset on July 31, 2025. The state-mandated sick leave requires employers to provide employees with 0-14 days of paid time off (depending on business size) for employees subject to a mandatory quarantine or isolation order due to Covid-19. This law was initially set to sunset July but has now been extended until July 31, 2025.

Key Takeaways

The recently approved New York State Budget contains several impactful changes for employers. Employers should consider how these changes will affect their business and update their workplace policies to ensure they remain in compliance with the law.

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If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact our Labor & Employment attorneys or the primary EGS attorney with whom you work.