NY Governor Signs New COVID-19 Related Bill to Protect Workers

Governor Cuomo and New York’s Legislature recently passed a bill requiring employers to provide certain paid and unpaid leave to employees recently impacted by mandatory and/or precautionary government orders of quarantine or isolation related to COVID-19. Highlights of the bill include the following:

• Employers with 10 or fewer employees as of January 1, 2020 and net income under $1 million must provide unpaid sick leave (job protection) until the termination of the order of quarantine or isolation.

• Employers with 10 or fewer employees as of January 1, 2020 with a net income of greater than $1 million in the previous tax year, or between 11 and 99 employees as of January 1, 2020 must provide employees with at least five (5) days of paid sick leave, and unpaid leave (job protection) until the termination of the order of quarantine or isolation.

• Employers with 100 or more employees as of January 1, 2020 must provide employees with at least fourteen (14) days of paid sick leave and job protection during the order of quarantine or isolation.

• Employers must provide paid and unpaid leave without loss to any other accrued sick leave the employee has available.

• NY Paid Family Law has been expanded to cover an employee’s inability to work as a result of an order of quarantine or isolation and expands the coverage of NYPFL to specifically cover an employee’s leave from work due to such an order or in the event the employee must care for their dependent child subject an order of quarantine or isolation. 

• For those employees that are unable to work because their employer is closed for a reason related to COVID-19, the bill eliminates the waiting period for a claim of unemployment benefits. 

For more information about how the recent COVID-19 related changes in New York’s employment laws may affect your place of business, contact an experienced employment lawyer at www.gross-shuman.com.