NY Paid Family Leave for Caregiving

How Does Caregiver Leave Work?

Being sidelined by the common cold doesn’t qualify for Paid Family Leave. Your family member must be unable to go to work or school, do regular daily activities, or be otherwise incapacitated for at least 4 consecutive days by a serious medical condition. This includes:

• at least 2 doctor treatments,
• or 1 doctor treatment with a doctor-supervised regimen thereafter.

Paid Family Leave can be taken in increments as small as 1 day. So, if your mom has chemotherapy every Monday or your dad has to go to dialysis every Thursday, and you need to be there with them, you can take that day routinely under Paid Family Leave without having to use up your paid time off such as sick time or vacation days (unless your FMLA policy requires it – learn more about PFL vs. FMLA here). If you choose to use those PTO days and receive your full paycheck instead, that is entirely up to you.

If you and a family member both work for the same company and need to take time off to care for your seriously ill family member, you are both entitled to use your full PFL time to do so. It will be up to the employer, however, if you can be out at the same time, or if you need to stagger your time out.

Who Is Considered A “Family Member”?

While in many ways similar to caregiver leave under FMLA, the definitions of qualifying family members differ between the two (check out our handy infographic comparing PFL to FMLA). NY Paid Family Leave can only be taken to care for:

• Spouse/domestic partner
• Child (including step-child, biological, foster, adoptive, or child under legal guardianship)
• Parent (including step-parents, in-laws, biological, foster, adoptive, or legal guardian)
• Grandparent
• Grandchild
• Sibling (for leaves that begin on or after 1/1/23)

Any other relationships (such as cousins, aunts/uncles) do not qualify.

 

What Is Considered A “Serious Health Condition” For PFL Purposes?

Paid Family Leave regulations have very specific definitions of what is recognized as a serious health condition, such as:

• An illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves specialized care.
• Any of the above that requires inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential health care facility.
• Any of the above that requires continuing treatment or supervision by a healthcare provider.
• A serious chronic health condition that requires frequent doctor visits over time (including asthma, diabetes, or epilepsy).
• Long-term illnesses, injuries, etc., for which treatment may not be effective and supervision is necessary (as with Alzheimer’s, severe strokes, and late-stage cancers).
• Conditions (like cancer, severe arthritis, or kidney disease) that could incapacitate a patient within 3 days of interrupting treatment (like chemotherapy, physical therapy, or dialysis).
• Restorative dental or plastic surgery after an injury or removal of cancerous growths.

Qualified caregiving events also include:

• Picking up medication
• Physical care
• Emotional support
• Visitation
• Assistance in treatment
• Transportation
• Assistance with daily living matters
• Personal attendant services