Paid Maternity Leave Is Becoming an OFFICIAL Thing in This East Coast State

RELATED: What Maternity Leave in the U.S. REALLY Looks Like

Once fully in place, the law will provide 12 weeks of job-protected, paid leave for employees to spend time with a new child (including adopted and foster children) or to care for a severely ill family member. While 12 weeks pales in comparison to paid leave policies abroad (Sweden guarantees a whopping 56 weeks), it is by far the most generous program in the nation and essential to the 6.4 million New Yorkers who currently lack access to paid family leave.

The program will cover both full-time and part-time workers who have been employed by a company for six months. Unlike the current Family and Medical Leave Act, there will be no exemptions for small businesses.

RELATED: Why Men Should Fight for Paid Leave, Too

There is, however, a catch: The paid leave program won’t begin until January 1, 2018, and even then it won’t be fully phased in until 2021, according to New York magazine. In 2018, employees will be eligible for up to eight weeks of leave a year, then 10 weeks in 2019 and 2020, and finally 12 weeks in 2021. At first, it will cover 50 percent of the employee’s pay, gradually working up to 67 percent over four years—with a cap of $848 per week (which might be a short-term paycut for some folks). Silver lining—anything is better than FMLA’s current pay out of…nothing.

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Oh yeah, this program emphasizes paid family leave—and that includes women and men. This will be great for two-parent households, as they’ll have the opportunity to alternate leaves which, as Dina Bakst, lawyer and founder of A Better Balance, an advocacy group for working families, points out, “is crucial because infant care is so unaffordable and inaccessible.” 

Here’s hoping other states are paying attention and will follow suit, ASAP.