Update: New Guidance for New York PFL Payroll Deduction

New York has changed its position on how employers must deduct from their employees' payroll for the Paid Family Leave premium.

In the past, you could use two different methods. However, New York State has released new guidance. Now Employers must take a FICA-like approach to PFL payroll deductions.

How can you calculate PFL for individuals with different salary thresholds? Take a look at these three scenarios:

Example: Barbara makes less than $67,907.84 per year.

$1,000.00 weekly salary x 4.333 = $4,333.00 monthly salary x .00126 = $5.46 monthly premium due

At end of year, Barbara pays a total of $65.52. This amount is under the annualized cap of $85.56, so Barbara has a payroll deduction of $1.26 per week through the entire year.

Example: Luis makes more than $67,907.84 per year.

$1,500.00 weekly salary x 4.333 = $6,499.50 monthly salary x .00126 = $8.19 monthly premium due

After Luis hits the maximum annualized cap of $85.56, his employer must stop payroll deductions and should not submit any more premium.

Example: Jerome makes $135,000 per year and receives an annual bonus.

Jerome makes $135,000 per year. He receives $1,596.15 per week and also gets an annual bonus early in the year. By withholding 0.126% of his paycheck each week, Jerome will hit the annualized cap by March. That means he won't have any added PFL withholdings past the 12th week of the year.

 

Week in 2018WagesWeekly ContributionTotal 2018 Contribution
1$1,596.15$2.01$2.01
2$1,596.15$2.01$4.02
3$1,596.15$2.01$6.03
4$1,596.15$2.01$8.04
5$1,596.15$2.01$10.05
6$1,596.15$2.01$12.06
7$1,596.15$2.01$14.07
8$1,596.15$2.01$16.08
9$53,000.00$66.78$82.86
10$1,596.15$2.01$84.87
11$1,596.15$0.69$85.56
12$85.56$0.00At Annual Cap

 

Looking for more information about payroll and withholding? Check out this blog post.

 

To find out more about PFL and other regulations that affect employees, follow The Standard on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter with the hashtag #PaidFamilyLeave, and subscribe   to this blog's RSS feed to receive updated content as new information becomes available.

For more details about New York Paid Family Leave, visit: ny.gov/programs/new-york-state-paid-family-leave.

 

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