New York paternity leave in 2026: 12 weeks of bonding at 67% of pay
In New York, partners and non-birthing parents don’t get a separate “paternity leave” — they get the same Paid Family Leave (PFL) as everyone else: up to 12 weeks of paid bonding at 67% of your wage, with your job protected at an employer of any size. No disability claim, no medical hoops. Here’s the full picture for 2026.
- • You get up to 12 weeks of PFL bonding at 67% of pay, up to $1,228.53/week.
- • No disability (DBL) — that benefit only covers the parent physically recovering from birth.
- • Your job is protected at any employer size, but if you and your co-parent share an employer, they needn’t grant you both leave at once.
You get PFL bonding — but no disability check
New York runs two parental-leave programs. One of them isn’t for you, and that’s by design.
Why there’s no disability benefit for partners
Short-term Disability (DBL) replaces income while someone is medically unable to work — it exists to cover the birth parent’s physical recovery from delivery. As a partner or non-birthing parent, you aren’t medically disabled, so DBL simply doesn’t apply to you. That’s not a gap in your benefits; it’s the reason your leave is cleaner — one program, one set of forms.
What PFL gives you instead
Paid Family Leave covers every new parent — birth, partner, adoptive, or foster. You can take up to 12 weeks to bond, paid at 67% of your average weekly wage up to a 2026 maximum of $1,228.53/week, with no waiting period. You have 12 months from the birth to use it, and you can take it all at once or in full-day increments.
12 weeks at 67% — what that pays
PFL replaces 67% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,228.53/week — a ceiling you reach once you earn about New York’s average weekly wage of $1,833.63/week. Two examples:
See a full sample plan with the timeline and forms →
Your job is protected — at any employer size
This is where New York beats federal law. FMLA only protects your job if your employer has 50+ employees within 75 miles and you’ve worked 12+ months and 1,250+ hours. PFL has no employer-size minimum — take your bonding weeks and your employer must return you to the same or a comparable job, and keep your health insurance on the same terms while you’re out. If you also qualify for FMLA, the two run concurrently.
The same-employer caveat
If you share an employer: when you and your co-parent work for the same employer, the law lets that employer keep you both from taking Paid Family Leave at the same time. You’re each still fully entitled to your own 12 weeks — the employer can simply ask you to stagger them rather than be short two people at once.
If that’s your situation, plan the sequence early. Many couples bond back to back on purpose, stretching coverage at home across more of the first year.
The 2026 numbers at a glance
Do you qualify?
PFL eligibility is about tenure, not job title:
- Full-time (≥20 hrs/week): covered after 26 consecutive weeks with your employer.
- Part-time: covered after 175 days worked — they don’t need to be consecutive.
Tenure keeps accruing right up to your leave date, so an expecting partner who’s a few weeks short today often qualifies by the due date.
The two forms
Ask HR who your company’s PFL insurance carrier is — in New York you file with the carrier, not a state office. Then submit Form PFL-1 (your employer completes its section) and Form PFL-2 with your child’s birth documentation, within 30 days of your bonding start. The carrier pays or denies within 18 days.
Mistakes partners make
- Thinking it’s “use it or lose it” immediately. You have 12 months from the birth — but not a day more. Unused weeks are forfeited after that.
- Waiting for the birth parent to “finish.” Your PFL is independent. Unless you share an employer, you can bond at the same time.
- Filing with the state. There’s no central claims office — forms go to your employer’s carrier.
- Assuming a small employer means no leave. PFL has no size minimum; even a two-person shop is covered.
Birth parent or adopting?
If you’re the one giving birth, you’ll stack disability recovery before bonding — see the New York maternity leave guide. Adopting or fostering? The bonding rules have their own timing — see the adoption & foster care leave guide. For how every program fits together, start with our New York Paid Family Leave guide.
Map your 12 weeks to the due date.
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Build my free plan →Sources: New York State Paid Family Leave (paidfamilyleave.ny.gov), NY Workers’ Compensation Board disability benefits (wcb.ny.gov), and U.S. Dept. of Labor FMLA (dol.gov). Figures are for the 2026 benefit year. This guide is general information, not legal advice.