Insights

New York Enacts Legislation to Provide Paid Sick Leave and Job Protection for Workers Quarantined Due to COVID-19

March 19, 2020

Governor Cuomo signed into law legislation offering sick leave and job protection for workers quarantined as a result of COVID-19 effective immediately. Here is a summary:

  • Businesses with up to 10 employees or fewer and a net income less than $1 million must provide unpaid sick leave and guarantee their workers access to paid family leave and short-term disability benefits during the quarantine.
     
  • Businesses with 11 to 99 employees, and businesses with 10 or fewer employees and a net income greater than $1 million must provide at least 5 days of paid sick leave and guarantee access to paid family leave and short-term disability benefits during the unpaid remainder of the quarantine.
     
  • Businesses with 100 or more employees, and all public employers must provide at least 14 days of paid sick leave during the quarantine.
     
  • All employers must provide job protection during the duration of the quarantine.
     
  • All leave provided under this legislation will be in addition to an employee’s accrued sick leave, if any.
     
  • Employees who are deemed asymptomatic or have not been diagnosed with a medical condition and are physically able to work during a quarantine order (through remote access or other similar means) are ineligible for the benefits in the legislation.
     
  • Employees who are quarantined because they knowingly travelled to a country for which the CDC has issued a level two or three travel health notice for non-business purposes are ineligible for paid sick leave pursuant to this legislation. Employers, however, are required to provide unpaid sick leave during the quarantine (if the employee does not have sufficient accrued leave).
     
  • To the extent this New York legislation provides benefits related to COVID-19 in excess of any benefit provided by the federal government, the employee would be entitled to receive the greater benefit. Click here to view our previous alert on the recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

For more information on this issue or other employment matters, please contact:

Carol M. Goodman at +1 212 592 1465 or [email protected]
Meaghan Roe at +1 212 592 1632 or [email protected]
Silvia Stockman
at +1 212 592 1583 or [email protected]

© 2020 Herrick, Feinstein LLP. This alert is provided by Herrick, Feinstein LLP to keep its clients and other interested parties informed of current legal developments that may affect or otherwise be of interest to them. The information is not intended as legal advice or legal opinion and should not be construed as such.