New York Paid Family Leave Update

I have started to see things creep up in my personal facebook feed about paid family leave. There has been local news coverage this month about the fact that employers can start taking deductions from employee’s wages to cover the premiums. The rate was set by NY Department of Financial Services (DFS) and maxes out at $1.64 per week, which is intended to fully fund the coverage. 

Meanwhile, insurers are still waiting to submit form filings to provide for this coverage. At the LICONY and DFS seminar that was held on July 11, representatives from the Health Bureau stated that they have put ample resources into drafting model language for the program, which they will require to be used. The language is drafted to be a rider that is added to an existing Disability Benefits Law (DBL) policy. The language has also been pre-approved by the Worker’s Compensation Board, which means insurers will only need to submit filings to DFS. At the time of publication, the model language has still not been released, but it was promised to be available soon. Department staff also promised that there will be a checklist that includes detailed filing instructions to aid in these submissions. Given the circumstances, I am hopeful that there will be a very quick turnaround on these filings. 

I am most interested to find out what happens January 1, 2019 after the first year of the program is complete. The rate regulation requires detailed reporting from all insurers and a complete levelling of all experience, categorized by group size. Will it be a loss? Are the premiums adequate?