Employer Resources for New York State Paid Family Leave posted by the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board

Since first launching in 2018, New York State Paid Family Leave (PFL) has provided critical benefits to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of working New Yorkers and their families. As the Board looks ahead to 2024, there are exciting updates to share!

New! 2024 employee contribution rate and weekly benefit

Good news! Employees will be paying less for PFL in 2024. The employee contribution rate will decrease to 0.373% of an employee’s gross wages each pay period, capped at an annual maximum of $333.25. This is $66.18 less than 2023. Employers may begin taking deductions at the new rate starting January 1, 2024.

Additionally, the maximum weekly benefit for employees taking PFL will rise to $1,151.16 for leave that begins on or after January 1, 2024. This is about $20 more per week than 2023.

Employer resources

New York State has a created several resources to help employers communicate Paid Family Leave updates to your employees.

• Model Language for Employee Materials – Updated for 2024 – provides model language you can use, either in an employee handbook or other written materials, and customize based on your PFL policies and procedures.
• Employee Notice of Paid Family Leave Payroll Deduction for 2024 – a template you can use to tell employees what their expected payroll deduction will be.
• Statement of Rights for Paid Family Leave – outlines employees’ PFL rights and steps to apply.
• PFL At-A-Glance – provides a snapshot of the benefit, along with information on who can request PFL and how.

New York State offers complete details on PFL at PaidFamilyLeave.ny.gov, including a special page with updates for 2024, where you’ll find the above employer resources along with frequently asked questions and other information. You can also view the employer page of the website for additional resources.

Employer webinars

In October, the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board hosted a Paid Family Leave webinar for employers and HR professionals. If you weren’t able to attend, you can view the recording or access the slides.

On Tuesday, December 12 at 12:00pm, the Board will be hosting a Q&A webinar for employers and HR professionals, where we’ll review the most frequently asked questions, and leave time to answer questions live. More information, and the link to join, is on the webinar page.  

 

Selected links to items focusing on government operations posted on the Internet during the week ending December 8, 2023

2023: The Year Generative AI Gained Ground in Gov Tech While the likes of ChatGPT and its competitors may give pause to leaders in both the private and public sectors, it would be hard to find a state or local CIO dismissive of the potential and influence of generative AI. READ MORE

 

2023’s Dark Horse Cyber Story: Critical Infrastructure Attacks There are several cybersecurity trends that truly deserve top attention when we look back at 2023 — and they will get it. Meanwhile, cyber attacks against critical infrastructure quietly grow, despite a lack of major attention. READ MORE

 

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California Report Offers Glimpse at AI Use in State Government How might California government make use of generative artificial intelligence? Officials suggest several ways that the technology could be introduced to state government functions. READ MORE

 

Cities Hope AI Camera Enforcement Can Improve Bus Service Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., are using bus-mounted cameras with AI technology to better enforce parking violations, hoping to clear transit lanes of vehicles and make public transit faster and safer. READ MORE

 

Colorado Dodged a Recession This Year. Can It Do It Again? Despite job gains moving at their slowest pace since 2011 and extreme stress in commercial real estate, Colorado managed to stave off a recession this year. Many are wondering whether it can keep an economic downturn at bay again next year. READ MORE

 

Cybersecurity Trends Point to More Sophisticated Attacks Ahead As ransomware attacks have continued to hit state and local organizations — and tech advancements like generative AI have continued apace — cyber experts predict evolving malicious tactics for 2024. READ MORE

 

Dallas Wins $5M Grant to Help Relocate Housing Voucher Holders The city’s Housing Authority received the federal grant to help voucher holders relocate to areas of high opportunity. The DHA estimates that more than 3,500 families are living in non-high-opportunity areas. READ MORE

 

Election Workers Push Back on Disruptions and Threats Election offices in California, Georgia, Nevada, Oregon and Washington received powder-filled letters around the November election. But states and workers are increasing efforts to protect democratic elections amid continued risk. READ MORE

 

EVs Are a Tough Sell in Texas. Here’s Why. A new survey found that only about 5 percent of Texans currently drive an electric vehicle and, of those who don’t currently own or lease an EV, about 60 percent said they probably wouldn’t consider one in the future either. READ MORE

 

How Did Georgia’s Budget Reserve Grow So Big So Fast? In 2021, the state’s surplus was $3.7 billion and a year later it had grown by nearly another $3 billion. Now with $16 billion reserved, it’s likely that increased spending will occur in next year’s session. READ MORE

 

How Technology Is Shaping Parking Policy, Pricing and Enforcement A digital parking technology pilot in Arlington County, Va., is providing fresh, real-time data related to which areas of the city experience the highest parking demand and how to better manage those spaces. READ MORE

 

In the World of Smart Cities, No One Wants a ‘One-Hit Wonder’ Too often, urban technology doesn’t scale across cities because it’s simply not ready for prime time, experts argued at the recent Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo in National Harbor, Md. READ MORE

 

Long Beach CIO Opts to Stay on Post-Cyber Attack Long Beach CIO Paula Crowell was set to take over as Santa Monica’s CIO Dec. 18, but the far-reaching impacts of a November cyber attack prompted her to reconsider the transition. READ MORE

 

Long Beach Restores Some Services Equipped With Emergency Powers  Long Beach, Calif., continues to grapple with a Nov. 14 network security incident. It declared a local emergency on Nov. 17 and on Nov. 22 announced the restoration of a few services. READ MORE

 

Los Angeles Aims to Shift to Local Water Reliance by 2045 The nation’s largest county currently imports 60 percent of its water supply. The water plan that the Board of Supervisors adopted on Tuesday outlines how it will shift to sourcing 162 billion gallons locally instead. READ MORE

 

Niagara Considers Apprenticeship Requirement for County Projects A proposed law would require successful bidders for county construction work valued at $1 million or more to meet the standards of a New York State Apprenticeship program in an effort to retain trade students. READ MORE

 

Northeast Ohio Schools Ask: Should We Ban Cellphones? Nearly 100 percent of students use their phones for an average of 42 minutes during the school day, with social media being the top reason. A study found that adolescent smartphone use during weekdays resulted in worsened mental health. READ MORE

 

Ohio Creates Policy and Council to Govern Statewide AI Use Ohio’s new policy aims to ensure AI accountability with human verification mandates, plus a council to set requirements for how agencies must use the new technology, among other considerations. READ MORE

 

Preservica Launches Public Records Archiving and FOIA Tool The new product embeds in Microsoft 365 and can save officials from labor-intensive work to save minutes, correspondence and other documents. Other companies, too, have found opportunity in this gov tech niche. READ MORE

 

Professors Cite Data Privacy, Cheating Among Top AI Concerns Based on a recent professional development course about generative AI, college professors still have reservations about data privacy, plagiarism, accessibility and mixed messages around the technology. READ MORE

 

Public Pensions Are Losing Top Talent. Isn’t It Time to Rethink Compensation? High-profile departures of senior-level executives reflect not only an aging workforce and a more politicized operating environment in government but also salaries and benefits that need to be competitive with the private sector’s. READ MORE

 

Ransomware Impacts Health-Care Systems in Six States The affected health-care systems were hit by the cyber attack on Thanksgiving Day, and they were forced to divert ambulances in the aftermath, according to officials with Ardent Health Services. READ MORE

 

Ransomware Incident Affects Scores of Credit Unions Credit union solutions provider Ongoing Operations experienced a cyber incident in late November. About 60 credit unions are believed to be suffering a level of disruption as a result. READ MORE

 

Texas Chided for Conditions for Mentally Disabled Foster Youth A U.S. district judge has scolded the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for ignoring complaints of maltreatment and horrible living conditions for foster children with intellectual disabilities. READ MORE

 

The District of Columbia Unveils an AI-Powered Career Platform Career Ready DC, a new AI-matching technology platform from the DC Department of Employment Services and Eightfold AI, aims to help match residents with employment opportunities more efficiently and equitably. READ MORE

 

The YIMBY Movement Needs to Go Commercial Even in a work-from-home era, deregulation — fewer restrictions on commercial property development — would lead to more business creation and more jobs with higher wages. READ MORE

 

Thousands of Alaskans Wait on Food Aid Amid SNAP Backlog  More than 12,000 state residents who applied or attempted to recertify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, are still awaiting for their benefits to be processed months later. READ MORE

 

Two Schemes for Fighting Poverty: Which One Works Better? Investing in poor neighborhoods or dispersing the poor citywide each have their proponents. But place-based strategies — improving neighborhoods — may be our only feasible option. READ MORE

 

U.S. DOT Boosts Digital Construction in 10 States with $34M Grant According to the Federal Highway Administration, the grant funding, allocated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to propel digital construction tools such as computer modeling and 3D design in 10 state DOTs. READ MORE

 

Watch for AI to Find Its Way Into Smart City Upgrades As cities update timeless technology like streetlights, they are laying the groundwork for smart city connectivity and data gathering. Artificial intelligence will help sift through the mounds of data these projects create. READ MORE

 

What Are the Best Measures to Thwart a School Shooting? “The school district doesn’t want law enforcement sitting around watching kids in the school during the day and law enforcement doesn’t want to sit around and watch kids during the school day either.” READ MORE

 

What Cyber Response Can Learn from Traditional Disasters Government has battle-tested playbooks for dealing with hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires. As cyber emergencies become both more common and more devastating, what can cyber responders learn from physical emergency response? READ MORE

 

What Is Citrix Bleed? The Next Ransomware Patch You Need Adopting a patch released in October — and removing any threat actors that may already be exploiting unpatched instances of the software — is important to defending against new actors known to exploit this flaw. READ MORE

 

What's New in Digital Equity: Checking on the National Broadband Map 3.0 Plus, Maryland to put $27 million toward getting Internet devices for residents of underserved households, Colorado releases a new broadband workforce plan, and more. READ MORE

 

Who Will Pay for New Orleans’ Updated Power Grid? A New Orleans power utility wants customers to pay for the $750 million to $1 billion price tag, which could raise bills an additional $11.86 per month. But the city has pushed back saying there must be an affordable option for ratepayers. READ MORE

 

Wisconsin’s AI Strategy: Upskilling, Not Displacing Workers The chair of the Wisconsin Governor’s Task Force on Workforce and Artificial Intelligence shares how the state is aiming to be one of the first states to harness the power of AI by redefining the workplace. READ MORE

 

The Workers' Compensation Board is required address all the arguments raised by Claimant seeking benefits on administrative appeal and provide an explanation for its determination

This applicant for Workers' Compensation benefits [Claimant] worked as a mass transit customer service agent for the self-insured employer [Employer]. On January 14, 2021, Claimant was confronted by an emotionally disturbed person. This person came up to Claimant, then in her enclosed booth, and banged on the windows while screaming and threatening to kill her. Thereafter, claimant took a three-month unpaid leave from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act (29 USC §2601 et seq.) and was treated by a private medical provider. 

When claimant returned to work she suffered a panic attack, and her supervisor advised her to file a workers' compensation claim. Claimant was referred to a medical provider authorized by the Workers' Compensation Board, who diagnosed her with causally-related anxiety and acute stress reaction.

Employer submitted a First Report of Injury form on June 15, 2021, indicating the Claim Type as "M — Medical Only" and the Agreement to Compensation as "L — With Liability." The Workers' Compensation Board issued a Notice of Case Assembly and advised the parties and Claimant filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits on June 21, 2021, asserting that she sustained post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]. The following day, June 22, 2021, Claimant began treating with a licensed social worker, who diagnosed her with causally-related PTSD, opined that she remained unable to return to work at that time and submitted a medical report to the Board.

Employer controverted the claim and argued that, because the Board had not indexed the case, the 25-day time period in which to file a notice of controversy under Workers' Compensation Law §25 (2) (b) had not been triggered. A Workers' Compensation Law Judge [WCLJ] found prima facie medical evidence of PTSD, agreed that Employer was entitled to controvert the claim and, thus, afforded it the opportunity to schedule an independent medical examination. 

Employer later filed a Subsequent Report of Injury controverting and denying the claim based on, among other grounds, no compensable accident. Claimant's treatment providers were deposed in December 2021, and claimant testified at the next hearing regarding the incident and her inability to work.

The WCLJ credited Claimant's testimony but disallowed the claim, finding that the incident did not qualify as an accident in that Claimant testified that she frequently experienced verbal abuse while working in the transit system and, thus, did not establish that the stress that caused her psychiatric injury was greater than that which other similarly-situated workers experienced in a normal work environment.

Ultimately the Workers' Compensation Board [Boar] affirmed the decisions of the WCLJ, agreeing that, because it never indexed the claim, the provisions of Workers' Compensation Law §25 (2) (b) did not apply. The Board further upheld the WCLJ's finding of no compensable accident. Claimant appealed the Board's determination.

The Appellate Division reversed the Board's determination, noting the Board did not address any of the related arguments raised by Claimant, including:

1. Employer's First Report of Injury form, indicating acceptance of the claim with liability and that report was binding on Employer; and

2. Employer's subsequent actions in controverting the claim violated the purpose of 12 NYCRR 300.37(c).

The matter was remitted to the Board "for it to satisfy its obligation to address the issues raised by Claimant on administrative appeal and provide an explanation for its determination."

The Appellate Division also observed "The Attorney General elected not to participate in this matter, involving significant questions of statutory and regulatory interpretation, while urging this Court not to draw any adverse inference from that lack of participation. This was also the case the last time these arguments were raised to this Court" (see Matter of Williams v New York City Tr. Auth., 214 AD3d 1099) and "strongly encourage such participation on any potential appeal following this remittal".

Click HERE to access the decision of the Appellate Division posted on the Internet.

 

Municipal and School Audits released by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli

On December 7, 2023, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following local government and school audits were issued.

Click on the text highlighted in color to access a summary and the complete audit report.

Village of Schaghticoke – Board Oversight (Rensselaer County)

The board did not provide adequate oversight of financial operations. As a result, the board cannot be sure it has accurate financial information to make decisions and gauge the village’s financial condition. The board did not establish controls or other oversight procedures to compensate for the clerk-treasurer performing all functions of the financial and recordkeeping duties or audit the clerk-treasurer’s records and reports for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2022.

 

Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES)

The board did not always ensure non-instructional employee overtime was properly monitored, approved or calculated. The 15 highest overtime earners received overtime totaling $254,820 during the audit period. A review determined BOCES officials may have been able to reduce overtime by up to $28,337, or almost 11%. BOCES officials paid a total of $66,295 to 13 employees for work on Saturdays that included $22,091 additional pay for working overtime. However, the BOCES Classified Employees’ Association collective bargaining agreement supports a Tuesday through Saturday work week. Therefore, this overtime may have been avoided if some employees worked Tuesday through Saturday instead.

 

City of Newburgh – Budget Review (Orange County)

The city’s use of approximately $3.4 million of general fund balance to close gaps in the budget decreases the fund balance that is available to cover unforeseen circumstances. The city has also appropriated approximately $2.5 million of sewer fund balance and appropriated $24,770 of fund balance for the water fund. However, the water fund already has a deficit fund balance of $58,722. In addition, the city should refrain from including the $1.5 million revenue and corresponding expenditures in their 2024 adopted budget for the New York State Touring Route Program because there is no assurance the state will appropriate additional money for this program. Also, the city could potentially face shortfalls based on revenue estimates for sewer usage and sale of metered water and the budgeted overtime funding for police of $1.1 million is likely underestimated by a total of at least $715,000. During the review of the city’s proposed 2024 budget, two conflicting proposed budget documents were posted to the city’s website.

 

Town of Vestal – Former Police Chief’s Separation Agreement (Broome County)

Town officials paid severance payments to the former police chief, totaling $229,251, pursuant to a separation agreement with the town. While the separation agreement included $13,383 for earned, but unused leave accruals, neither the board or other town officials were able to provide any additional written documentation to support the town’s decision to pay the additional $215,868 in severance payments. 

 

City of Salamanca – Employee Benefits (Cattaraugus County)

Separation payments were not properly authorized, adequately supported or accurately calculated. This resulted in unsupported and possibly improper payments being made. Of the 23 separation payments made between April 1, 2020 and Oct. 31, 2022, to 18 employees, totaling approximately $306,000,  seven payments totaling approximately $13,400 did not have adequate support and six additional payments totaling approximately $6,800 included leave balances that were not authorized to be paid at separation. This included $3,400 paid to one employee that did not leave city employment. In addition, one payment totaling approximately $45,000 was based on more than nine years’ worth of leave accrual records.

 

City of Salamanca – City Comptroller’s Financial Reports (Cattaraugus County)

The former comptroller used improper accounting practices and did not complete timely and accurate annual and monthly financial reports. As a result, the council did not have accurate and up-to-date financial information when making significant financial decisions. Fiscal year-ending 2021 general fund cash was overstated by approximately $330,000 and annual financial reports for 2018 through 2021 were not filed until after the resignation of the former comptroller. The longest overdue report was more than four years past its due date and monthly financial reports included erroneous reporting of revenue and expenditures. In addition, the mayor and council did not ensure annual reports were accurate and submitted in a timely manner. Monthly financial reports were inaccurate because the former comptroller was using improper accounting practices that the council did not detect.

 

Town of Colesville – Procurement (Broome County)

Officials did not always use a competitive process when purchasing goods or services and some officials were unfamiliar with the town’s procurement policy requirements. Of the 28 purchases reviewed totaling $1.2 million, officials did not properly seek competition for three purchases totaling $170,575.

 

St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) – Capital Assets  

BOCES officials did not properly monitor and account for Information Technology (IT) assets. As a result, officials cannot ensure that assets are in BOCES’ possession and protected against loss or unauthorized use. Officials did not maintain accurate and up-to-date inventory records, affix identification tags to all assets, periodically conduct physical inventories, and ensure sensitive data was erased before assets with hard drives were disposed of. Sixty-nine out of 140 recorded IT assets could not be located. Also, 30 out of 95 assets on hand were not listed in the inventory records. In addition, none of the 39 IT assets purchased and placed in service during the 2022-23 school year were added to the inventory records and none of the 25 computer disposals tested had evidence that the hard drives were sanitized prior to disposal. Furthermore, 11 other computers were sanitized and disposed of but were still active in the inventory records. The inventory records also did not always show the proper location of IT assets and sometimes were missing key information such as serial numbers, locations, purchase dates and costs.

 

Tonawanda City School District – Procurement (Erie County)

The board and district officials did not always use a competitive process to procure goods and services. As a result, they did not comply with district policies or state law and may have paid more than necessary for goods and services. The board and district officials procured 167 interactive panels for $684,132 without obtaining competitive bids and did not obtain quotes or request proposals in accordance with district policies for 23 purchases totaling $102,378.

 

Village of Greene – Investment Program (Chenango County)

Village officials developed a comprehensive investment program but did not effectively manage the program. During the 22-month audit period, the village earned approximately $5,800 from money on deposit in the village’s checking and savings accounts, which had an average daily balance of approximately $3.7 million. Had officials considered other legally permissible investment options, the village may have earned approximately $96,900. Officials also did not prepare monthly cash flow forecasts to estimate funds available for investment or monitor investments and did not formally solicit interest rate quotes or consider other legally permissible investment options.

 

Dobbs Ferry Union Free School District – Facilities Department Overtime (Westchester County)

District officials did not properly approve and monitor overtime worked by employees. As a result, employees may have worked unnecessary overtime. Officials paid 10 employees $198,716 in overtime for emergency, non-emergency and absenteeism during the 21-month audit period. Approximately $186,330 of overtime work to be performed was not properly approved. Officials paid 10 employees a total of $36,734 in overtime to conduct 270 building checks. However, officials lacked the required building check forms to support that 267 checks were performed, and officials did not follow up with the employees to confirm the checks were conducted. While the overtime costs for the audit period examined accounted for 24% of department employees’ total compensation, officials did not perform a cost benefit analysis or determine other options that may have reduced overtime.

 

University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men – Payroll (Monroe County)

School officials did not always accurately compensate employees or require adequate support for hours worked as payroll errors went undetected and resulted in unnecessary and erroneous payments. Auditors reviewed policies and documents and examined payroll-related records for 25 of the 138 individuals employed by the school and determined that officials lacked records to support compensation totaling $18,527 paid to three hourly employees and twelve employees received pay that was not consistent with their employment agreements, authorized pay rates or board policy resulting in compensation errors totaling $5,188. Officials also could not support they provided sufficient information for the board to perform its oversight duties or ensure that the chief executive officer authorized salaries within the board-approved range. In addition, officials did not adequately segregate payroll duties or establish sufficient compensating controls, which could allow other discrepancies to occur.

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Application to reopen a matter earlier adjudicated by the Commissioner of Education

In this appeal to the Commissioner of Education the Petitioner sought to reopen Application of Rickson, 63 Ed Dept Rep, Decision No. 18,347, which denied her application to remove certain school officers and employees from their positions with the Albany-Schoharie-Schenectady-Saratoga Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

The Commissioner denied the Petitioner's application to reopen Commissioner's Decision No, 18,347, explaining Petitioner "has not established grounds to reopen the underlying decision in accordance with the standard set forth in 8 NYCRR 276.8".

Click HERE to read more.