Can I take time off to care for a family member or a new child in New York?

What is Paid Family Leave?

• What it covers. Caring for a family member with a serious health condition; bonding with your child during the first 12 months after birth, adoption or foster placement; and certain needs when a family member is called to active military duty (Workers’ Comp. Law § 201(15)).
• Which family members. A child, parent (including a parent-in-law, stepparent or someone who stood in the place of a parent), grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse or domestic partner (§ 201(19), (20)). That is broader than the FMLA.
• How much. Up to 12 weeks in a 52-week period, at 67 percent of your average weekly wage, capped at 67 percent of the State average weekly wage (§ 204(2)(a)). It can be taken in full days (§ 204(2)(a)).
• Your job. When you return you must be restored to your position or a comparable one, and you do not lose benefits you had already earned (§ 203-b).
• Notice. Where the leave is foreseeable, such as a birth or planned treatment, give 30 days’ notice, or as much as is practicable (§ 205(5)).
• Who is covered. Private-sector employees, with some exceptions; government employment is not covered by the statute (§ 201(4)–(6)).

Paid Family Leave is not for your own illness. For that, see time off for your own condition.

What does the FMLA add?

If you are eligible, the FMLA gives up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year for the birth of a child and to care for the child, for adoption or foster placement, and to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition (29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(A)–(C)). Your health insurance continues while you are out (§ 2614(c)(1)). Paid Family Leave and FMLA leave are used at the same time, not one after the other (Workers’ Comp. Law § 205(2)(c)).

You do not have to prove everything when you ask. Your request only has to indicate that the FMLA “may” apply; if the employer needs more, it must ask. A worker who asked for leave to care for his seriously ill grandfather, and was told grandparents are not covered, could go to trial: the FMLA covers someone who stood in the place of a parent when you were a child, and the employer should have asked whether his grandfather had raised him, as he said his grandfather had (Coutard v. Municipal Credit Union, 848 F.3d 102, 111–13 (2d Cir. 2017), vacating summary judgment for the employer).

If your employer says your paperwork is not enough, it has to tell you what it needs. An employer that made vague demands for “paperwork” from a mother caring for two sons, ignored her questions and then fired her for abandoning her job faced a jury on her FMLA claims (Graziadio v. Culinary Inst. of Am., 817 F.3d 415, 424–31 (2d Cir. 2016), vacating summary judgment on those claims).

Can I use sick leave or safe time?

• New York sick leave can be used for a family member’s illness, injury or health condition, and for a family member’s diagnosis, care, treatment or preventive care (Labor Law § 196-b(4)(a)(i), (ii)). Family members include a child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, sibling, grandchild or grandparent, and the child or parent of a spouse or domestic partner (§ 196-b(4)(b)).
• New York City safe time. Since February 22, 2026, if you provide direct and ongoing care for a minor child, or for a family or household member with a disability who relies on you for medical care or daily needs, you may use City safe/sick time to provide that care (Admin. Code §§ 20-912, 20-914(b)(1)(b)).

Does my employer have to change my schedule so I can give care?

No, not under the discrimination laws. The State and City Human Rights Laws require accommodation of your own disability or pregnancy, not of caregiving (Exec. Law § 296(3)(a); Admin. Code §§ 8-107(15)(a), (22)(a)). The ADA “does not require an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to the nondisabled associate of a disabled person” (Kelleher v. Fred A. Cook, Inc., 939 F.3d 465, 469 (2d Cir. 2019)). Time off to give care comes from the leave laws above (Graziadio, 817 F.3d at 432–33 & n.11). You can still ask, and many employers agree; how the employer responds can matter later.

Can I be treated worse because I am a caregiver?

No. Three laws forbid it:

• New York State forbids discrimination because of “familial status,” which includes being pregnant, having a child under 18, or being in the process of securing custody of one (Exec. Law §§ 292(26), 296(1)(a)).
• New York City forbids discrimination because of “caregiver status” (Admin. Code § 8-107(1)(a)). A caregiver is someone who provides direct and ongoing care for a minor child, or for a relative or household member with a disability who relies on them for medical care or daily needs (§ 8-102).
• The ADA forbids treating you worse because of the known disability of someone you have a relationship with (42 U.S.C. § 12112(b)(4)). An employer’s reaction to a caregiver’s request can be evidence: a father who was told “his problems at home were not the company’s problems,” demoted after missing a day for his daughter’s hospitalization, and fired weeks later stated a claim (Kelleher, 939 F.3d at 467–70, vacating the dismissal of his complaint). But the claim fails if the real reason was the leave itself rather than assumptions about the relative’s disability; that is an FMLA claim, not an ADA one (Graziadio, 817 F.3d at 432–33, affirming dismissal of her ADA claim).

Can I be fired for taking family leave?

No. The FMLA forbids interfering with your leave and punishing you for taking it (29 U.S.C. § 2615(a)). The Workers’ Compensation Law forbids firing or discriminating against you because you claimed Paid Family Leave, unless “no other valid reason is shown to exist” (Workers’ Comp. Law § 120). The sick-leave law forbids retaliation for requesting or using sick leave (Labor Law § 196-b(7)). See can I be fired because of my condition, my leave or my request.

Say that the time off may be FMLA leave. An account manager who took eight and a half paid days to care for her daughter and her mother, without either side mentioning the FMLA, was fired in February 2021, twelve days after her last day off, because she was not expected to meet her sales quota for the year. She lost. Her manager’s pressure over a major account never referred to her time off, his concerns about her sales pipeline began months before her leave, and the employer’s failure to tell her the time might be FMLA leave did not hurt her, because she got every day she asked for. An employer’s failure to give the required FMLA notice counts only if it actually affected your leave (Haran v. Orange Bus. Servs., Inc., 160 F.4th 51, 56–60 (2d Cir. 2025), affirming summary judgment for the employer). She later wrote that she “should have taken family medical leave” (at 58).

What are the deadlines?

General periods only; when a period starts depends on the facts. An EEOC charge under the ADA or the PWFA is generally due within 300 days in New York. A State Human Rights Law claim can be brought in court within three years (CPLR 214(2)), or with the Division of Human Rights within three years for conduct on or after February 15, 2024 and one year before that (Exec. Law § 297(5)). A City Human Rights Law claim can be brought in court within three years (Admin. Code § 8-502(d)) or with the City Commission within one year (§ 8-109(e)). Filing with the Division or the Commission can bar a later lawsuit on the same claim (Exec. Law § 297(9); Admin. Code § 8-502(a)). See the deadlines on the main page.

• FMLA: two years in court, three if the violation was willful (29 U.S.C. § 2617(c)).
• Paid Family Leave retaliation: two years, with the Workers’ Compensation Board (Workers’ Comp. Law § 120).
• Sick-leave retaliation: two years in court (Labor Law § 215(2)(a)).

What can I recover?

Under the FMLA: lost wages and benefits with interest, an equal amount as liquidated damages unless the employer proves good faith, reinstatement, and fees (29 U.S.C. § 2617(a)(1), (3)). If you had no lost wages, the FMLA allows actual monetary losses caused by the violation, “such as the cost of providing care,” up to 12 weeks of wages (§ 2617(a)(1)(A)(i)(II)). Under the Workers’ Compensation Law, the Board may order reinstatement and lost pay (Workers’ Comp. Law § 120). Under the Human Rights Laws, see what you can recover.

What is unsettled?

• Caregiver accommodation under City law. City law protects caregivers from discrimination but its accommodation provisions do not list caregiving (Admin. Code §§ 8-107(15)(a), (22)(a)). Whether refusing a schedule change a caregiver needs, while granting similar changes to others, is discrimination depends on the facts; we are not aware of an appellate decision setting a rule.

What should I gather?

• Your leave requests, certification forms and every reply, with dates.
• Your Paid Family Leave claim and the insurer’s decision.
• Anything a manager said or wrote about your family responsibilities.
• How coworkers without caregiving responsibilities were treated when they asked for schedule changes or time off.