Friday, October 16, 2026
The recently enacted New York state budget paid off a $6 billion debt to our state’s unemployment fund, taking businesses off the hook for the Covid-era federal loan that had kept the fund afloat amid a surge of more than a million new filers in the early days of the pandemic. Now it’s time to take care of our state’s workers by providing meaningful paid medical leave.
My Assembly colleagues were right to stand up for the business community. New York wasn’t alone in taking a federal loan to meet its unemployment needs during the pandemic. Most states used a portion of their federal Covid relief funds to pay off the debt. New York, instead, raised to historic levels the unemployment insurance premium rates businesses pay into the state’s unemployment fund to come up with the cash to cover the loan. With the state now using rainy-day funds to pay off the debt, at the urging of the Assembly, employers are relieved of this additional burden.
In order to deliver for our workers, I implore my Assembly colleagues to step up in the remaining weeks of the legislative session and support long-overdue change to New York’s paid medical leave laws. Through this act, we will finally align the short-term medical leave benefits that provide support if you’ve been sick or hurt off the job and those provided by the state’s highly successful paid family leave program.
Since 1989, short-term medical benefits have been capped at $170 per week. As I’ve said before, no one in this state in 2025 can live on $170 a week. Yet that’s what happens to thousands of New Yorkers every year. Have a heart attack and need to go out on leave? You get $170 a week. You have cancer? $170 a week. You’re a mother who‘s recovering from childbirth? $170 a week.
To our credit, if you’re the partner caring for the sick person or supporting the new mother, you’re eligible for up to $1,177 per week in benefits through the state’s paid family leave program.
The difference makes no sense, and it’s putting lives at risk. Maternal and infant mortality are increasing in New York, with Black women dying at over four times the rate of white women. Far too many women in New York are stuck between taking time off work to care for their health, and being able to put food on the table or even stay housed.
My Assembly colleagues can help fix this by joining the State Senate in passing Assembly Bill 84. In addition to bringing parity to short-term medical leave benefits and paid family leave benefits, the bill would take steps to mitigate the impact on employers. It would give businesses 18 months to prepare for the change, and would gear up the program over six years, giving everyone time to adjust. I understand that businesses need time to budget and time to plan.
There’s little doubt that businesses want to support their employees, and provide the benefits they need to heal and recover from illness, off-the-job injury or childbirth. But all too often, businesses don’t realize that their short-term medical benefits fail to meet their employees’ needs until it’s too late, leaving those employees stuck with $170 a week when they’re most in need of support. We can, and must, end this disparity.
Last year we were close to delivering this fix, but it fell by the wayside in the final moments of a frenzied legislative session. With the budget already delivering much-needed support for employers, there’s no reason to wait this time around. We can pass Assembly Bill 84 and send it to the governor for her signature. I look forward to working with my colleagues to achieve this important goal, and increasing short-term medical leave benefits for the first time in 36 years.
Michaelle Solages represents the 22nd Assembly District.
