New York’s Paid Family Leave Program for Self-Employed Individuals

(last updated 08/23/22)
Is it Available?

Yes.

Who’s Eligible?
  • Self-Employed without employees 
  • Self-Employed with employees

Note: If you are a self-employed individual who has employees in New York State, to voluntarily opt in yourself you must submit a voluntary coverage form to the Workers’ Compensation Board and notify your insurance carrier of your intent to opt in to both Paid Family Leave and disability insurance.

Employee/Self-Employed Contribution

In 2022, the employee/self-employed contribution is 0.511% of an employee’s/self-employed gross wages. The maximum annual contribution is $423.71.

Contribution Period

You need to contribute payments for two years before receiving benefits. 

Note: Unless you’ve launched your business within the past 26 weeks, and you pay in for 26 weeks there is no Contribution Period before applying for benefits.

Qualifying Life Events
  • To care for a seriously ill family member. 
  • For parents to bond with a new child entering their life either by birth, adoption, or foster care placement.
  • To assist loved ones when a spouse, domestic partner, child or parent is deployed abroad on active military service.
Wage Benefit

In 2022, employees who take PFL will receive 67% of your average weekly wage (AWW) capped at 67% of New York State Average Weekly Wage. Your AWW is the average of your last 8 weeks of pay prior to starting PFL. 

The maximum weekly benefit for 2022 is $1,068.36.

Length of Benefit

Up to 12 weeks in an application year.

Website to Learn More and Apply

https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov

Phone: (844)337-6303

Glossary of Terms:

Employee/Self-employed Contribution:

The amount that a self-employed individual must pay into the program in order to qualify for benefits. Depending on your state this contribution may be quarterly or annually.

Employee’s/Self-employed Average Weekly Wage (AWW):

The total amount an employee/self-employed person earned in a 52-week period divided by 52

  • Ex: If you make $40,000 annually, your average weekly wage is $769.23, which is $40,000 divided by 52.
  • If the contribution is .27% of an employee’s/self-employed person’s average weekly wage, if you made $40,000 annually, your contribution would be $108, which is $40,000 times .0027 (which is .27%).
Contribution Period:

The amount of time you need to pay into the program before you are eligible to apply for PFL benefits.

Qualifying Life Events:

The type of life events that allow you to apply for PFL benefits.

Wage Benefit:

Amount of benefit to be paid to employee/self-employed person during their PFL.

Length of Benefit:

Length of time covered under PFL.

Social Security contribution base:

This is a set of criteria by Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program that caps the amount of earnings each year that are eligible for your social security contributions. Some state’s Paid Family Leave insurance funds use this same threshold to cap contributions into their programs. This cap changes annually. For 2022 the base is $147,000.

Note: The contents of the directory last updated day of 2/15/22. We try our best to have the most up to date information possible, however please double check all information with your state. This directory is for educational purposes only.

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