New Hampshire program
Time off for appointments after birth or adoption
New Hampshire gives eligible parents unpaid hours for pediatric appointments during the first year after birth or adoption.
What it is
New Hampshire gives eligible parents unpaid hours for pediatric appointments during the first year after birth or adoption.
Pediatric appointments can need time away from work even when a longer leave is unnecessary. This law allows up to 25 hours at employers with at least 20 employees. Accrued paid leave can cover the otherwise unpaid hours.
Eligibility rules
- The employer must have at least 20 employees.
- The appointment must be in the first year after the child’s birth or adoption. Adoption can qualify for an older child: the law does not turn the adoption branch into an age-under-one test. The employer must have at least 20 employees; parents working for the same employer share the 25-hour allowance, and accrued appropriate paid leave may replace the otherwise unpaid hours.
What you get
- Up to 25 hours of appointment leave during the first year after birth or adoption.
- The option to substitute appropriate accrued paid leave.
What the protection includes
- The employer cannot deny qualifying leave under this rule. Accrued holiday or other appropriate paid leave can be substituted.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your employer in writing for appointment leave for your child’s medical visits, and whether you can use accrued paid leave for it.
- Have the clinic’s appointment schedule and the relevant birth or adoption date ready.
Your employer’s human resources or payroll office · Official page ↗
After you ask
- Your employer confirms the hours and any paid leave used for them.
Good to know
Parents working for the same employer share the 25 hours. These hours are unpaid unless accrued paid leave replaces them.
Other details
- This law took effect January 1, 2026. Your answers here do not settle an adoption date or employer headcount.
Official sources
“Could these appointment hours cover time we need after birth or adoption? How would paid leave fit, and could you help us ask payroll?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand whether appointment time can be covered without using a longer period of leave.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Ask in writing, name the statute, and ask to substitute paid leave.
Your social worker
The clinic can give the appointment schedule in writing.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The employer.
- Ask HR
- “My child is under a year old. New Hampshire gives me up to 25 hours for pediatric appointments; can I substitute accrued paid leave?”
How to apply
First step: Ask the employer in writing for the hours and to substitute accrued paid leave.
- Ask the employer for the hours in writing and name the statute.
- Ask whether accrued paid leave can be substituted so the hours are paid.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Ask the employer for the hours and name the statute.
What to gather
- The appointment schedule
- The child's date of birth
How long: Within the child's first year.
What a yes looks like
The hours granted, and paid if you substituted leave.
What a no looks like, and the next move
The employer has fewer than 20 people, or the child is over a year old.
Watch out
- It covers only the first year after birth or adoption.
- Parents at the same employer share the 25 hours between them.
- The hours are unpaid unless you substitute accrued paid leave.
If they say no, quote this: Leave for infant pediatric appointments: RSA 275:37-f.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Up to 25 unpaid hours in the child's first year for pediatric appointments, at employers of 20 or more.
- $25 — Hours of leave in the child's first year
- $20 — Employees an employer must have for the rule to apply
Legal protection: An employer with 20 or more employees cannot deny the leave · Accrued holiday or other appropriate paid leave can be substituted so the hours are paid
What it costs the family: The hours are unpaid unless paid leave is substituted.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Employer size
- 20 employees or more
- Child age
- within the first year of the child's birth or adoption
- Pay
- unpaid, with substitution of accrued paid leave permitted
- Effective
- 2026-01-01
The trap: Where both parents work for the same employer they share the 25 hours between them rather than getting 25 each.
Where I read this
- RSA 275:37-f, Leave of Absence to Attend Medical Appointments — NH General Court, read September 10, 2026