Maximum payouts for paid family leave to increase by over $300 starting Jan. 1

New York, one of only nine states in the country to offer paid family leave, will increase the maximum cash benefit available to eligible recipients at the start of next year.

Maximum possible cash benefits for paid family leave, a type of social safety net insurance paid for by employee contributions each pay period, will increase by over $300 starting on Jan. 1, according to the state Workers’ Compensation Board, the lead agency in administering the benefit.

Paid family leave allows workers to receive up to 12 weeks of job-secured paid time off during a 52-week period to bond with a new child, care for seriously ill family members, or help loved ones when a family member is deployed to active military service overseas.

Workers who qualify get 67% of their average weekly wages covered during their leave up to a potential maximum of $1,177.32, or a total of $14,127.84 for the 12 weeks starting next year. In 2024, the maximum a recipient could get was $13,813.92, about $314 less.

“Strong Paid Family Leave benefits means New Yorkers don’t have to sacrifice financial security to be there for family in times of need,” Workers' Compensation Board Chair Clarissa M. Rodriguez said in a statement. “No one should have to choose between caring for a loved one and a paycheck.”

Driving the enhanced benefits is an increase in the state’s “average weekly wage,” a measure used to help calculate benefits for a variety of safety net programs. Because the state’s average weekly wage will increase to $1,757.19 next year, and maximum paid family leave payments are capped at 67% of that number, the total maximum workers can receive is growing.

Labor and employment attorney Jessica M. Baquet, a partner at Ruskin Moscou Faltischek in Uniondale, said because paid family leave is covered by worker contributions and claims are paid out by insurance carriers, the change is likely have minimal impact on employers.

Employee deductions will increase to 0.388% of their “gross wages per pay period” next year, according to the Workers’ Compensation Board. That amounts to a total of $354.53 in worker contributions annually, roughly $20 more than last year’s total costs.

Employers should focus on any written policies that might need updates to reflect the new dollar values and percentages for 2025, she said.

“A lot of the time we see that the employer’s paid family leave policies that are in writing will make reference to what the average weekly wage is, and that’s what’s increasing,” Baquet said.

Employers who have written policies with out-of-date references to the state’s average weekly wage “may want to update their policy for 2025 or circulate a memo to their employees about the increase so they are aware,” she said.

While the state plans an increase to paid family leave, a recent report shows that the state’s maximum payouts and percentage of weekly pay covered by the insurance lag other states.

Nine states and Washington, D.C. offered paid family leave to working residents in 2024, according to a recently released benefits analysis by state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office.

Of those states, New York ranked eighth with its benefit rate of 67%, and ranked fourth regarding its maximum weekly payout, according to the November report. Four other states — Delaware, Maryland, Maine and Minnesota — are scheduled to start offering the benefit in 2026.

The state’s Workers’ Compensation Board will host three one-hour webinars in the coming weeks to aid employers and human resources personnel in understanding changes to family leave for 2025.

Webinars will be held from noon to 1 p.m. on Dec. 10, Dec. 18 and Jan. 14. For more information on changes for next year, visit the state’s Paid Family Leave webpage.