Employee Handbook

Marchese Ford Employee Handbook

New York State Paid Family Leave

Starting January 1,2018, Paid Family Leave (PFL) will provide paid time off so an employee can:

Bond with a newly born, adopted or foster child
Care for a family member (spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild with a serious condition
Assist loved ones when family member (spouse, domestic partner, child or parent) is deployed abroad on active military duty.

Additional Protections

Employees have a right to return to the same or comparable job upon return from Paid Family Leave.
Employees are guaranteed continued health insurance while on leave. But, employees must continue to pay their health insurance premium contributions.
Citizenship and immigration status do not impact eligibility.
Employers cannot discriminate against employees for taking Paid Family Leave.
The program is mandatory for all private employers to provide for all NY covered employees.

Eligibility

Employees with a regular work schedule of 20 or more hours per week are eligible after 26 consecutive weeks of employment preceding the first full day of leave.
Employees with a regular work schedule of less than 20 hours per week are eligible after 175 days worked preceding the first full day of leave.

Benefits

Benefits will be phased in over four years as outlined below.
In 2018, employees are eligible for up to eight (8) weeks of paid leave at 50% of their average weekly wage (AWW), up to 50% of the New York State Average Weekly Wage (NYSAWW*)

paid family leave

Employee Contributions

Employees will be expected to pay for the PFL benefit coverage through payroll deductions at a rate based on their salary. The NY Department of Financial Services (DFS) is responsible for establishing the rate each year and the rate is the same for all employees, regardless of gender or age.
For 2018, the employee contribution rate is 0.126% of an employee’s weekly wages up to the annualized NYSAWW ($67,907.84) for a maximum annual employee contribution of $85.56.
For those employees who will not reach the employment levels outlined above can opt out of Paid Family Leave and will not have deductions from pay. The opt out is revocable by the employee if the employee's situation should change, but deductions will have to be made up from the time the opt out was active.

How to File a Paid Family Leave Claim

Employee must notify their employer 30 days prior to a leave, when practical.
Employee must complete a NY PFL claim form available below or from your employer or Standard Security Life Insurance directly.
Employee needs to obtain supporting documentation for a leave (i.e. birth certificate, military deployment certification, etc.) and submit with claim form.
Employee submits claim form, along with supporting documentation, to Standard Security Life Insurance, which will process and pay or deny the claim within 18 days of receipt of completed claim

Claim Forms