NYS Paid Family Leave: Your Questions Answered

Paid Family Leave is a New York State program that allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of Paid Family Leave at 67% of their pay, up to a cap. It’s an insurance plan funded by employees through payroll deductions. The amount of that deduction changes every year.

In 2022, the employee contribution for Paid Family Leave is .511% of gross wages, with a maximum annual contribution of $423.71, deducted from after-tax wages. If an employee makes less than the NYS average weekly wage of $1,594.57, the deduction will be less.

So Why the Delay of Implementation?

Before the MTA can opt-in to this program on behalf of its employees, it must first collectively bargain with TWU Local 100. But such negotiated programs, under state law, may not permit employees to opt out of Paid Family Leave. In other words, everyone has to pay if the Union adopts this. We’re in the negotiating stage now.

Since the beginning of COVID in the Spring of 2020, the Union’s focus has been on keeping the membership safe, and that has delayed these negotiations. There are other sticking points as well. We don’t want any Paid Family Benefits to override or diminish our members’ contractual rights to paid Maternity and Paternity Leave, or to curtail the utilization of leave balances.

We have also seen the costs for Paid Family Leave rise from $107.92 to over $400 per year now. The Union is actively trying to negotiate those costs down, while separating the leave balances issue. As of right now, the Transit Authority wants the membership to utilize all leave balances including Maternity and Paternity Leave before Paid Family Leave would kick in.