Gov. Cuomo's Drive for $15 stops in CNY

Governor Andrew Cuomo gives his address during his "Drive for $15' Stop at the Solvay Geddes Youth Community Center in Solvay, Wednesday March 2, 2016. Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com

(Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Millions of New York workers will be able to take up to 12 weeks of employee-funded paid family leave to care for a new baby or sick relative under a state budget deal reached Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.

No other state offers workers paid family leave for that long, the governor said.

"This program will be funded entirely through a nominal payroll deduction on employees so it costs businesses - both big and small - nothing," the governor said.

Under the deal, all New York workers will have 70 cents a week taken out of their paychecks to pay for the program. That amount will increase to about $1.40 a week.

Beginning in 2018, workers who have been on their job for six months will be able to collect up to 50 percent of their pay, up to 50 percent of the statewide average weekly wage, while on paid family leave, Cuomo said.

Eventually, when the program is fully implemented in 2021, workers can receive up to two-thirds of their weekly pay, capped at two-thirds of the statewide average weekly wage.

Cuomo said the leaders of the state Legislature have agreed to the paid family leave program as part of a broad $156 billion budget deal he announced Thursday night. Lawmakers are expected to begin voting Thursday night on paid family leave, a hike in the minimum wage, a middle class tax cut, and a record amount of school funding.

In addition to caring for a baby or a sick relative, workers can take paid family leave to relieve family pressures when someone is called to active military service, he said.

"This truly is The Year of the Worker. A victory in the Fight for $15 and Paid Family Leave will make a tremendous difference in the lives of our workforce," said Sen. Jeffrey Klein, leader of the state Senate's Independent Democratic Caucus. "New York State put together the best Paid Family Leave policy in the nation. Nobody will ever have to choose between what their heart tells them to do and what their bank account allows them to do."

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