As of January 1, 2025, New York employers must provide pregnant employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave under New York State’s paid sick leave law (NY Labor Law, Chapter 31, Article 6, §196-B). Prenatal leave functions similarly to sick leave and may be taken by a pregnant employee to receive pregnancy related healthcare prior to the birth of a child. Employees must be paid at their regular wage for time taken as prenatal leave.
As with all forms of sick leave, employers may not require the disclosure of confidential information relating to a medical condition, including pregnancy, although employees must identify that they are taking prenatal leave to allow the employer to account for such leave. Employers may not penalize, discriminate or retaliate against an employee for requesting or taking such leave.
How much leave is required?
Employers must provide pregnant employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal per 52-week period and may be taken in hourly increments. Prenatal leave is in addition to sick leave already required under New York Labor Law. Unlike non-pregnancy related sick leave, which is accrued based on hours worked (at a rate of 1 hour per 30 hours worked) prenatal leave is not an accrued benefit and pregnant employees may take prenatal leave immediately after hiring.
Interaction with other forms of leave

Prenatal leave is in addition to other forms of sick leave. The amount of Non-Prenatal sick leave required varies depending on the employer’s number of employees and net income.
• Employers with 4 or fewer employees and a net income of less than one million dollars in the previous tax year) must provide employees with up 40 hours ofUNPAID sick leave in each calendar year and 20 hours of PAID prenatal leave.
• Employers with 4 or fewer employees and net income of more than one milliondollars in the previous tax year must provide employees with up to 40 hours of PAIDsick leave and 20 hours of PAID prenatal leave.
• Employers with between 5 and 99 employees regardless of net income must provide employees with 40 hours of PAID sick leave in each calendar year and 20 hours of PAID prenatal leave.
•Employers with 100 or more employees must provide employees with up to 56 hours of PAID sick leave in each calendar year and 20 hours of PAID prenatal leave.
Prenatal leave is separate from Paid Family Leave which is taken after birth or adoption by either or both parents and short-term disability which may be taken by employees prior to or after birth of a child.