Overview
New York Paid Family Leave (NYPFL) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave per year to bond with a newly born, adopted, or foster child; care for a family member with a serious health condition; or address qualifying exigency situations arising from a family member's active military service.
For detailed legislative requirements, see our Legislative Guidance.
How to Use
Throughout this guidance, look for these labels to quickly identify what actions may be needed:
✅ Automatic: System handles this automatically, no action needed
📝 Configuration Note: How the policy is set up in the platform
💡 Best Practice: AbsenceSoft recommendation for optimal management
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: User must complete this action or track elsewhere
How AbsenceSoft Manages New York Paid Family Leave
AbsenceSoft manages NYPFL using a single policy representing both wage replacement benefits and job-protection:
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Policy Name - New York Paid Family Leave
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Policy Code - NYPFL
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Benefit Type - Paid Leave and Job-Protection
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Purpose - Provides wage replacement and job-protection
📝 Configuration Note: NYPFL is not concurrent with NY-STD. When an employee transitions from a disability leave to family leave, the NYPFL policy will not run at the same time as the NY-STD policy.
Administration Options
NYPFL is carrier-administered. Covered employers must secure coverage through either:
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State Fund - administered through the New York State Insurance Fund
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Private Insurance Carrier - licensed to write coverage in New York
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Self-Insurance - with approval from the Workers' Compensation Board
💡 Best Practice: Employers should confirm eligibility determinations and benefit payments through their carrier or state, where applicable. AbsenceSoft is used to track benefit payments and leave for job-protection.
Employer Coverage Requirements
Excluded Employers
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
📝 Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft's policy applies to all employees with Work State = New York by default.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Manually override eligibility for employees of excluded employers.
Employee Eligibility
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
Work State Requirements
📝 Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft's policy is configured to apply to employees with Work State = New York.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Override eligibility for employees whose work state does not reflect where they actually perform work in New York, or for employees who meet New York's localization requirements through work performed in the state but whose work state is configured differently.
Eligibility Exceptions
Length of Service Requirements
Hours where the employee was on leave under worker's compensation, NY-STD, or administrative leave with the employer, should not be included as service hours.
📝 Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft evaluates eligibility using two separate rules matched with an OR condition:
Full-time employees (20 hours or more per week): eligible after 26 consecutive weeks of employment from the case start date.
Part-time employees (less than 20 hours per week): eligible after 175 days worked.
AbsenceSoft's policy configuration does not exclude hours taken under worker's compensation, NY-STD or administrative leave to determine eligibility.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Eligibility should be confirmed with the state/carrier. Overrides in eligibility may be necessary for employees whose work hours have worker's compensation, NY-STD or administrative leave hours included.
Excluded Employees
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Manually override eligibility for excluded employees.
Waivers
Employees who do not work 26 consecutive weeks or 175 days in a 52-week period may file a waiver with their employer to opt out of NYPFL payroll contributions.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Waivers are not supported in the platform. Employers must track which employees have signed valid waivers outside AbsenceSoft and manually override eligibility to ineligible for those employees to prevent the policy from applying.
Leave Entitlements and Duration
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
Entitlement Overview
All NYPFL absence reasons share a single combined pool of 12 work weeks per 52-week rolling back period.
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Bonding (Adoption/Foster Care, Bonding, Pregnancy/Maternity — only covers bonding time within the Pregnancy/Maternity absence reason) - Up to 12 weeks, shared pool; 52 weeks rolling back
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Family Care Leave (Family Health Condition) - Up to 12 weeks, shared pool; 52 weeks rolling back
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Military Family Support (Qualifying Exigency) - Up to 12 weeks, shared pool; 52 weeks rolling back
✅ Automatic: AbsenceSoft automatically tracks leave against the shared 12-week pool across all active absence reasons within this policy.
📝 Configuration Note:
Pregnancy/Maternity - only covers bonding time within this absence reason (configured as a convenience reason for employers who wish to manage all pregnancy-related items within one case — this is not a statutory NYPFL absence reason)
Care for Minor Child was a COVID-19-era absence reason ended as of July 31, 2025. It is retained in the platform for historical case reference only and is not available for new cases or dates beyond July 31, 2025.
NYPFL had increased entitlement amounts year over year since its inception; only the current entitlement is available within the configuration.
Entitlement Rules
Adoption/Foster Care Stipulations
Adoption/Foster Care leave may be taken prior to finalization of placement. NYPFL will start and expire on either the first date of leave taken for finalization events or 52 weeks from the placement date, whichever the employee takes first.
📝 Configuration Note: Policy events and eligibility criteria are configured in the platform to note the expiration of leave within 12 months from placement date. There is not a way to capture and limit finalization events taken prior to placement and stop the policy based on the first day of leave taken for such events.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Leave managers should apply decisions in AbsenceSoft based on the state/carrier's determination.
Qualifying Exigency Stipulations
Special time limitations apply to certain qualifying exigency categories. NYPFL incorporates qualifying exigency categories as interpreted under the FMLA.
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Short Notice Deployments - Limited to 7 calendar days beginning on the date the military member receives notice of deployment
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Rest and Recuperation - Limited to 15 calendar days per instance of R&R leave
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Post-Deployment Activities - Must be taken within 90 days of the end of active duty status
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Leave managers should apply decisions in AbsenceSoft based on the state/carrier's determination.
Combined NY-STD and NYPFL Maximum
An employee may not collect disability benefits for NY-STD and NYPFL at the same time. The combined total of disability leave and NYPFL in any 52-week period may not exceed 26 weeks.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Track combined NY-STD and NYPFL usage to ensure the 26-week combined maximum is not exceeded. The platform does not automatically enforce the cross-policy cap between NY-STD and NYPFL. Leave managers should apply decisions in AbsenceSoft based on the state/carrier's determination. If combined NY-STD and NYPFL usage approaches or reaches the 26-week cap, manually deny or override exhaustion to align with the state/carrier's determination.
Family Member Shared Entitlement (family members who work for the same employer)
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: New York law does not permit more than one employee to use the same period of family leave to care for the same family member. AbsenceSoft does not have logic to enforce this restriction across multiple employee cases. Employers must track and enforce this limitation manually.
How Leave Can Be Taken
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
Intermittent Leave Requirements
NYPFL allows employees to accrue intermittent leave up to one full working day. Benefits are not payable for less than one full working day of leave taken in a work week until a full day has accrued.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: There is no concept of intermittent accrual in AbsenceSoft today. Employers should make intermittent case decisions based on the information from the carrier/state.
Interaction with Other Laws
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
💡 Best Practice: Employers who wish to run FMLA concurrently with NYPFL must provide written FMLA designation notice to the employee. Failure to do so means the employer cannot count the leave against the employee's FMLA entitlement, potentially allowing leave stacking beyond 12 weeks.
The policy table in AbsenceSoft communications reflects policy approvals and denials. Employers should review their communication templates to ensure the FMLA notifications happen based on the organization's needs and preferences.
Pay and Benefits
Relapse
Successive Family Leave Periods (Relapse)
Successive periods of family leave caused by the same or related injury or sickness are treated as a single claim period if separated by less than three months.
✅ Automatic: The platform is configured to recognize successive disability periods. When reopening a case, employers should choose 'Is Relapse' if the claim period falls within 3 months of the original start of the condition.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: For employees who have more than one family leave period caused by the same or related injury or illness, and those periods are separated by more than three months, leave managers may need to open a new case rather than relapse based on the state's determination.
Required Paperwork/Communication
Refer to Legislative guidance for details.
📝 Configuration Note: When an employee is eligible for both FMLA and NYPFL, only NYPFL certification forms trigger with no return date since the employee must return directly to the carrier for processing.
FMLA certification forms are not set to trigger by default to avoid requesting duplicative documentation. Employers who wish to require FMLA certification on concurrent NYPFL cases may update their paperwork settings; however, those attachments will become custom and will be the employer's responsibility to maintain going forward.
📝 Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft provides core paperwork for NYPFL through the NY State Paid Family Leave Statement of Rights (NYPFLRIGHTS) paperwork/attachments. Paperwork is configured to be sent as part of the Employee Eligibility packet. Employers with private plans may have different requirements causing the need for a custom paperwork attachment be created with employer specific details.
❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required:
NYPFL Statement of Rights must be customized per employer to confirm the carrier, where applicable.
Updates to existing paperwork items can occur. When updates happen, they are automatically applied to paperwork unless the client has customized. Clients with customizations on the relevant paperwork will need to review to determine how to adopt the new paperwork and apply any new customizations to the updated paperwork manually.
Payroll Calculations
This policy uses a Base Wage Calculation Method developed from information published by the state of New York. It aims to closely replicate the calculations performed by the employer's insurance carrier or the New York Workers' Compensation Board.
Pay History
Uses the last 8 weeks of gross paychecks.
📝 Configuration Note: Gross pay per paycheck should include all wages paid on the check date, including base wages, overtime, bonuses, commissions, and tips. Under NY regulations (12 NYCRR §379.1), annual or irregular bonuses must be allocated over the period beginning the month of payment, not entered as a lump sum in a single paycheck. Confirm the allocation approach before submitting pay history.
Policy Configuration
A State Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) is configured in the policy's Benefit Settings.
📝 Configuration Note: For 2026, effective 01/01/2026, the SAWW is $1,833.63, with a weekly maximum benefit of $1,228.53.
New York PFL Base Wage Calculation Method Logic
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Retrieve Pay History: Retrieve the last 8 weeks of paychecks based on check dates before the Leave Start Date. At least 2 paychecks are required within the 8-week window.
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Calculate the Average Weekly Wage (AWW): Sum the 8 weeks and divide by 8.
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Calculate the Base Weekly Wage:
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Apply the state benefit percent (67%): AWW × 0.67.
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Retrieve the SAWW from Benefit Settings. If the calculated benefit exceeds the SAWW, cap the result at the SAWW.
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Apply the state minimum: if the AWW is more than $100 and the calculated benefit is less than $100, return $100 as the Base Weekly Wage. If the AWW is less than $100, return the AWW as the Base Weekly Wage.
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Return this as the Base Weekly Wage.
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📝 Configuration Note: The value returned is an AbsenceSoft estimate based on the state's published formula. This estimate should be used for planning purposes only and confirmed against the official state determination before being treated as final.
📝 Configuration Note: Self-employed individuals and independent contractors may opt in to NYPFL coverage, but their AWW is calculated differently and is not supported by this method. Confirm eligibility and calculation approach with the insurance carrier for those cases.
Need Help?
For questions about policy configuration or case management, contact your AbsenceSoft support team or consult the Legislative Guidance for compliance details.