City hearing highlights gaps in New York City paid family and prenatal leave implementation

At a hearing of the New York City Council Committee on Women and Gender Equity, city officials and agency representatives described progress and remaining gaps in implementing paid family leave (PFL), paid parental leave (PPL) and the newly expanded prenatal-leave protections for New Yorkers.

The Office of Labor Relations reported that roughly 75% of the city workforce is covered by some form of paid family or parental leave, and that since January 2019 about 22,000 paid family leave claims have been filed by municipal employees. "Eligible employees taking paid family leave under the state program receive 67% of their average weekly wage up to a maximum of $1,177," said Daniel Pollock, first deputy commissioner at the Office of Labor Relations.

The hearing focused on three connected issues: differing leave benefits across bargaining units and nonrepresented employees; how prenatal leave is being enforced and publicized in the city; and whether nonunion workers have adequate protections when they take leave.

Why it matters: the city has a patchwork of negotiated and administratively granted leave benefits, and participants told the committee that those differences affect who uses leave and how much job-protected time workers actually take.

Most municipal employees are covered through either collective-bargaining agreements that opted into the New York State paid family leave program or separate negotiated parental-leave provisions. "As with any other leave…