NY Paid Family Leave For Public Employers

How Public Employers Can Opt-In To
Provide Family Leave

Generally, as a public employer, you can opt-in to provide Paid Family Leave by:

• submitting an application (Voluntary PFL Coverage Form) and plan to the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB).
  • PF-135 for non-contributory groups (no contribution from employees, i.e., you pay the entire premium).
  • PF-136 for contributory groups (fully or partially funded by your employees).
• along with providing notice to your employees at least 90 days before collecting employee contributions.

The steps for adding Paid Family Leave vary depending on whether you already provide voluntary DBL or not. Let’s focus on what this looks like for public employers with active, voluntary DBL coverage:

Public employers with voluntary DBL

As a public sector employer – even though you already have voluntary statutory short-term disability (DBL) – you still have to actively elect PFL coverage if you want to provide this benefit for your employees. Paid Family Leave will not be issued automatically for public sector employers with voluntary DBL coverage. Assuming that you don’t self-insure, once you add Paid Family Leave, it will typically be issued as a rider to your DBL policy.

Whether you decide to add PFL or not, you must notify the Workers’ Comp Board (WCB) of your decision.