New York State law does not require employers to allow employees to take time off for bereavement leave. However, under New York’s new funeral and bereavement law, which went into effect on October 29, 2010, when a company does allow employees to take time off for the death of a spouse, or for the child, parent or other relative of their spouse, they must also offer the same bereavement leave to employees for the death of their same-sex committed partner, and for the child, parent or other relative of the employee’s same sex committed partner.
The law defines “same sex committed partners” as couples that are “financially and emotionally interdependent in a manner commonly presumed of spouses”.