Effective 1/1/2025:
California Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act (Paid Sick Leave)
Effective January 1, 2025, safe leave under California Paid Sick Leave will also be available if an employee or their family member is a victim of a qualifying act of violence. Qualifying act of violence includes stalking, sexual assault, domestic violence, or any act/conduct that involves a dangerous weapon or causes bodily injury or death.
Also, there are new qualifying circumstances that have been expanded under California Paid Sick Leave to allow employees who are victims of a qualifying act of violence, or whose family members are victims to:
seek medical attention for or to recover from/care for related injuries for the employee or their family member;
obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, program, rape crisis center, or victim services organization or agency for the employee or their family member;
obtain psychological counseling or mental health services for the employee or their family member;
participate in safety planning and take other actions to increase safety from future incidents;
relocate or secure a new residence (temporary or permanent), including enrolling children in a new school or childcare;
obtain or attempt to obtain any injunctive relief (e.g. restraining order) for the employee or their family member to help ensure their health, safety, or welfare;
obtain civil or criminal legal services, and/or to prepare for, participate in, or attend any related civil, administrative, or criminal legal proceeding for the employee or their family member; or
seek, obtain, or provide care necessary to ensure the safety of a child or care-dependent adult.
Qualifying family members include a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner, or a designated person related by blood or whose close association is the equivalent of a family member (limited to one individual per 12-month period).
California Paid Family Leave
Effective January 1, 2025: Employers will no longer be able to require employees to use up to two weeks of vacation before they receive paid family leave insurance benefits.
California Safe Leave
Effective January 1, 2025, there are new qualifying circumstances that have been expanded under California Safe Leave to allow employees who are victims of a qualifying act of violence, or whose family members are victims to:
seek medical attention for or to recover from/care for related injuries for the employee’s family member;
obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, program, rape crisis center, or victim services organization or agency for the employee’s family member;
obtain psychological counseling or mental health services for the employee’s family member;
participate in safety planning and take other actions to increase safety from future incidents for the employee’s family member;
relocate or secure a new residence (temporary or permanent), including enrolling children in a new school or childcare;
obtain or attempt to obtain any injunctive relief (e.g. restraining order) for the employee’s family member to help ensure their health, safety, or welfare;
obtain civil or criminal legal services, and/or to prepare for, participate in, or attend any related civil, administrative, or criminal legal proceeding; or
seek, obtain, or provide care necessary to ensure the safety of a child or care-dependent adult.
Qualifying act of violence includes stalking, sexual assault, domestic violence, or any act/conduct that involves a dangerous weapon or causes bodily injury or death.
California State Disability Insurance (CA SDI) and California Paid Family Leave (CA PFL)
Beginning January 1, 2025, many new disability (CA SDI) and CA Paid Family Leave (PFL) claims will be paid higher benefit amounts, including up to 90% of wages for individuals making less than $63,000 per year, and 70% of wages for higher income workers.
Disability and PFL benefit rates will increase to about 70–90% of regular weekly wages for benefit payments on new claims in 2025. Higher rates mean higher benefit payments for many customers.
All disability and PFL claims that start in 2024 will be calculated at 60–70% of wages even if the claim continues into 2025.
All pregnancy-related claims beginning in 2024 will get 60–70% of wages for both their disability and PFL baby bonding claim, even if the PFL claim begins in 2025.
To learn more about the new benefit rates, visit the 2025 Benefit Payment FAQs.
Connecticut Paid Sick Leave
Under the existing paid sick leave law, employers that employ 50 or more individuals in Connecticut must provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year to “service workers” as defined under the law. The new requirements will be phased in over three years based on size of an employer’s workforce for nearly every private sector employer in Connecticut:
Beginning January 1, 2025, the law will apply to employers with 25 or more employees;
Beginning January 1, 2026, the law will apply to employers with 11 or more employees; and
Beginning January 1, 2027, the law will apply to employers with at least one employee.
Currently, paid sick leave is limited to employees meeting the definition of “service worker,” which excludes per diem and temporary workers. Under the amendments, all private sector employees will be eligible to receive paid sick leave, including per diem or temporary workers, except for seasonal and certain unionized construction workers. "Seasonal employee" means an employee who works 120 days or less in any year.
The amendments eliminate the current requirement that an employee complete 680 hours of employment to be eligible to use paid sick leave, and allows employees to begin using their paid sick leave on the 120th calendar day of employment.Effective January 1, 2025, there are new qualifying circumstances that employees make take leave for the following reasons:
Closure of the employer’s place of business or of a family member’s school or place of care due to a public health emergency, or a determination that the employee or the employee’s family member poses a risk to the health of others due to a communicable disease.
Family members includes a spouse, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild, or parent of an employee, or an individual who is related to the employee by blood or by an affinity whose close association the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships.
New York Paid Sick Leave
Amendment effective January 1, 2025:
Requires employers to provide paid prenatal leave.
Currently, state law requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide 56 hours of paid sick leave per year, and employers with 99 or fewer employees to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.
An employee may accrue, and use paid sick leave for the following purposes:
(1) a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of an employee or employee’s family member;
(2) the diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of an employee or family member, or for preventive care; and
(3) the employee to take certain actions and obtain services when the employee or a family member has been the victim of domestic violence, a family offense, sexual offense, stalking, or human trafficking.
As amended, employers are required to provide employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal personal leave during any 52-week calendar period and taken in hourly increments. Paid prenatal leave means leave taken for the health care services received by an employee during their pregnancy or related to such pregnancy, including physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring and testing, and discussions with a health care provider related to the pregnancy.
Rhode Island's Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI)
Currently, Rhode Island's Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) provides eligible claimants up to 6 weeks of caregiver benefits to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law, or grandparent, or to bond with a newborn child, new adopted child or new foster-care child.
Effective January 1, 2025, Rhode Island will increase the maximum temporary caregiver benefit as follows:
Beginning January 1, 2025, temporary caregiver benefits will be limited to a maximum of 7 weeks in a benefit year.
Beginning January 1, 2026, temporary caregiver benefits will be limited to a maximum of 8 weeks in a benefit year.