What New York Requires Employers to Carry
Under Workers' Compensation Law section 202, virtually all New York employers must provide disability and Paid Family Leave coverage. You become a covered employer once you have one or more employees on each of at least 30 days in a calendar year, and the days do not need to be consecutive. Coverage is required four weeks after that 30th day.
There are exceptions. A sole proprietor with no employees is not required to carry it, and neither is a corporation with one or two owners who hold every office and have no other staff. Compensated executive officers of religious, charitable and educational nonprofit organizations are also exempt.
What Statutory Short Term Disability Insurance Pays
The state benefit, known as DBL, is New York's version of what other states call temporary disability insurance. It works as short term disability insurance for injuries and illnesses that happen off the job. Something that happens at work falls under workers' compensation instead.
DBL pays 50 percent of the employee's average weekly wage over the last eight weeks worked, up to $170 a week, for a maximum of 26 weeks in any 52 week period. Employers may charge employees up to 0.5% of wages for DBL coverage, subject to the statutory weekly maximum contribution of $0.60.
That $170 ceiling is low for a New York salary. Bills to raise it have been introduced in Albany, but as of this writing none has become law, so plan around the current figure.
Paid Family Leave Rides on The Same Policy
Paid Family Leave is usually written as a rider on the employer's disability policy. It covers time off to bond with a new child, care for a seriously ill family member, or help with a military deployment, not the employee's own illness.
For 2026, it pays 67 percent of the average weekly wage up to $1,228.53 a week, for up to 12 weeks. Employees fund it through a deduction of 0.432 percent of gross wages, capped at $411.91 for the year. (Rates are adjusted annually by New York State and should be confirmed before enrollment.)
Long Term and Individual Disability Insurance
Long term disability insurance is private coverage for the gap the state leaves. It commonly starts after a waiting period of several months and can pay for years, depending on the policy. Employers often offer it as a group benefit to attract and keep staff.
Individual disability insurance is a policy you own yourself, which means coverage generally stays with you even if you change employers. It can be especially valuable for self-employed professionals, business owners, and higher-income workers. For example, a New York professional earning $90,000 annually would receive only the statutory DBL maximum, creating a significant gap between regular income and available benefits.
Where Medicare Disability Fits
Medicare disability is a separate federal track. Someone receiving Social Security disability benefits gets Medicare automatically after 24 months of those benefits, or immediately if they have ALS. It is health coverage, not income replacement, and it does not replace the policies on this page.