Articles

Client Alert: New York City Employers: Paid Prenatal Personal Care Leave Rules Now in Effect

Date: July 31, 2025
As of July 2, 2025, New York City’s new rules for paid prenatal personal care leave are in effect. With the first month of enforcement now behind us, it is critical for all employers with employees working in New York City to ensure they are fully compliant to avoid costly penalties.
 
What’s New?

These new requirements build on New York State’s law, which mandates New York employers to provide and allow employees to take 20 hours of paid, job-protected prenatal personal care leave every 52 weeks, separate from existing paid sick and safe leave, and without the need to accrue it before using it. However, New York City’s rules add several important obligations for employers with employees working in New York City, whether full-time, part-time or temporary.
 
What Is Paid Prenatal Personal Care Leave?

As described in an earlier Client Alert, this leave is specifically for employees working anywhere in the State of New York who are pregnant. It covers time off for health care services during or related to the employee’s pregnancy, including physical exams, medical procedures, monitoring and testing, fertility treatment or care appointments, and consultations with a health care provider related to the pregnancy. Only the employee themselves, not a spouse or partner, can use this leave.
 
Key Requirements
  • Written Policies: Must be distributed to all employees and include clear instructions for requesting leave, increments, notice and documentation requirements, consequences for failure or delay in providing such documentation or confirmation, for how leave is tracked, and confidentiality assurances. These policies must be distributed upon hire, whenever updated, and upon employee request.
  • Hourly Use: Leave can be taken in hourly increments and must be tracked and reported to employees each pay period.
  • No Substitution Required: Employees cannot be required to use other leave first or make up missed hours.
  • Notice Requirements: Employers may address in their written policy any requirement for a written notice from an employee for any period, up to 7 days of the need for foreseeable prenatal care leave, or as soon as practicable for unforeseeable needs.
  • Tracking and Communication: Employers must provide written documentation to employees each pay period showing the amount of paid prenatal care leave used during the pay period, and the remaining balance available for use, either on the pay statement (paystub) or other form of documentation. If an employer uses an electronic system to issue pay statements or other documentation related to prenatal leave, they must: (i) electronically alert the employee each pay period to the availability of the required information, (ii) make the information readily accessible outside the workplace, and (iii) maintain use and balance information for any past pay period in the electronic system so it is accessible outside of the workplace.
  • Documentation: Employers may request documentation only after more than three consecutive days of leave, and cannot ask for medical details.
  • Recordkeeping: Just as with paid sick/safe leave, employers must maintain records containing:
  1. The employee’s name, address, phone number, employment start and end date, pay rate, and whether the employee is exempt from the overtime requirements of the NYS labor laws and regulations.
  2. Hours worked each week by the employee (if nonexempt).
  3. The date and time of each instance of paid prenatal leave used by the employee and the amount paid for each instance.     
  4.  For each pay period, the amount of paid prenatal leave used during the pay period, and the employee’s total balance of paid prenatal leave.     
  5. Any change in the material terms of employment specific to the employee.
  6. The date that the updated Notice of Employee Rights was provided to the employee, and proof that the employee received the Notice of Employee Rights.
  • Disciplinary Action: Employers may discipline employees, up to and including termination, for using prenatal leave for unauthorized purposes.
  • No Retaliation: Strictly prohibited.
  • Enforcement and Penalties: The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (“NYCDCWP”) enforces these rules. There can be significant penalties, including backpay, front pay, liquidated damages up to $20,000, injunctive relief, reinstatement, and civil fines ranging from $500 to $20,000, depending on the violation.
     
What Should Employers Do Now?
  1. Update and distribute your written prenatal leave policy. Distribute the updated Notice of Employee Rights and obtain a signed and dated acknowledgement of receipt.
  2. Train managers and HR staff on the new requirements and train employees on their rights.
  3. Set up systems to track and report leave usage and balances.
  4. Ensure all employee medical information is kept confidential in a secure, locked, or password-protected location, and maintained separately from personnel records, and that managers and HR are trained on these legal requirements.
Don’t risk penalties—review your policies and practices today, and update them where needed to ensure full compliance with NYC’s prenatal personal care leave rules.

Please contact your Whiteford Labor & Employment attorney for assistance with updating your policies, conducting training, and providing advice on legal compliance with the State law and NYC rules.
The information contained here is not intended to provide legal advice or opinion and should not be acted upon without consulting an attorney. Counsel should not be selected based on advertising materials, and we recommend that you conduct further investigation when seeking legal representation.