BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – In less than a month, the Empire State kicks off its paid prenatal leave policy, and they want to make sure you can make the most of it.
Starting January 1, New York becomes the first state to require employers to provide up to 20 hours of paid time off during pregnancy.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the goal of the program is to make sure expecting mothers don’t have to decide between losing pay and missing appointments.
“That means they can not be missing the prenatal appointments — which are so important for a mom’s health to keep a regularly scheduled appointment with her doctor to make sure that if anything is going wrong with her health or the baby’s, they’re getting attention early enough to make sure that there’s no complications late,” said Hochul.
Starting on Tuesday, New York is rolling out a public information campaign to make sure everyone knows their rights to PTO for prenatal care.
Those 20 hours are in addition to the up to 12 weeks of leave after childbirth.