The state of New York has included paid prenatal leave as part of its $237 state budget for fiscal year 2025. Under the state's paid prenatal leave policy, which is the first of its kind in the nation, pregnant employees will be entitled to up to 20 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal doctors' appointments.
Gov. Kathy Hochul first proposed a paid prenatal leave policy in January, noting statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), indicating that infant mortality had increased by three percent between 2021 and 2022. Hochul initially called for 40 hours of paid prenatal leave, but the legislature settled on 20 hours. An employee's paid prenatal leave time is separate from and in addition to an employee's existing sick leave.
Paid prenatal leave is one of several laws and policies recently implemented to protect and accommodate pregnant and postpartum workers. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Community (EEOC) just issued final regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which went into effect last year. The PWFA requires employers with fifteen or more employees to accommodate pregnant workers reasonably.
Likewise, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act ("PUMP" Act) expands existing protections for nursing mothers to have time and privacy to pump breast milk while on the job.
Aside from the New York policy that will become effective in 2025, Washington, D.C., is the only jurisdiction providing workers with paid pregnancy-related care. In 2021 that jurisdiction offered two weeks of paid leave for pregnant employees to receive prenatal care.
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