S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
8091
I N S E N A T E
March 18, 2020
___________
Introduced by Sen. RAMOS -- (at request of the Governor) -- read twice
and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
on Rules
AN ACT providing requirements for sick leave and the provision of
certain employee benefits when such employee is subject to a mandatory
or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. 1.(a) For employers with ten or fewer employees as of Janu-
ary 1, 2020, each employee who is subject to a mandatory or precaution-
ary order of quarantine or isolation issued by the state of New York,
the department of health, local board of health, or any governmental
entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19, shall be
provided with unpaid sick leave until the termination of any mandatory
or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19 and
any other benefit as provided by any other provision of law. During the
period of mandatory or precautionary quarantine or isolation, an employ-
ee shall be eligible for paid family leave benefits and benefits due
pursuant to disability pursuant to this act. An employer with ten or
fewer employees as of January 1, 2020, and that has a net income of
greater than one million dollars in the previous tax year, shall provide
each employee who is subject to a precautionary or mandatory order of
quarantine or isolation issued by the state of New York, the department
of health, local board of health, or any governmental entity duly
authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19, at least five days of
paid sick leave and unpaid leave until the termination of any mandatory
or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation. After such five days
of paid sick leave, an employee shall be eligible for paid family leave
benefits and benefits due pursuant to disability pursuant to this act.
(b) For employers with between eleven and ninety-nine employees as of
January 1, 2020, each employee who is subject to a mandatory or precau-
tionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by the state of New
York, the department of health, local board of health, or any govern-
mental entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19, shall
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD12052-01-0
S. 8091 2
be provided with at least five days of paid sick leave and unpaid leave
until the termination of any mandatory or precautionary order of quaran-
tine or isolation. After such five days of paid sick leave, an employee
shall be eligible for paid family leave benefits and benefits due pursu-
ant to disability pursuant to this act.
(c) For employers with one hundred or more employees as of January 1,
2020, each employee who is subject to a mandatory or precautionary order
of quarantine or isolation issued by the state of New York, the depart-
ment of health, local board of health, or any governmental entity duly
authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19, shall be provided with
at least fourteen days of paid sick leave during any mandatory or
precautionary order of quarantine or isolation.
(d) For public employers, each officer or employee who is subject to a
mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by
the state of New York, the department of health, local board of health,
or any governmental entity duly authorized to issue such order due to
COVID-19 shall be provided with at least fourteen days of paid sick
leave during any mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or
isolation. Each officer or employee shall be compensated at his or her
regular rate of pay for those regular work hours during which the offi-
cer or employee is absent from work due to a mandatory or precautionary
order of quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19. For purposes of this
act, "public employer" shall mean the following: (i) the state; (ii)
a county, city, town or village; (iii) a school district, board of
cooperative educational services, vocational education and extension
board or a school district as enumerated in section 1 of chapter 566
of the laws of 1967, as amended; (iv) any governmental entity operating
a college or university; (v) a public improvement or special district
including police or fire districts; (vi) a public authority, commis-
sion or public benefit corporation; or (vii) any other public corpo-
ration, agency, instrumentality or unit of government which exercises
governmental power under the laws of this state.
(e) Such leave shall be provided without loss of an officer or employ-
ee's accrued sick leave.
2. For purposes of this act, "mandatory or precautionary order of
quarantine or isolation" shall mean a mandatory or precautionary order
of quarantine or isolation issued by the state of New York, the depart-
ment of health, local board of health, or any government entity duly
authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19.
3. Upon return to work following leave taken pursuant to this act, an
employee shall be restored by his or her employer to the position of
employment held by the employee prior to any leave taken pursuant to
this act with the same pay and other terms and conditions of employment.
No employer or his or her agent, or the officer or agent of any corpo-
ration, partnership, or limited liability company, or any other person,
shall discharge, threaten, penalize, or in any other manner discriminate
or retaliate against any employee because such employee has taken leave
pursuant to this act.
4. An employee shall not receive paid sick leave benefits or any other
paid benefits provided by any provisions of this section if the employee
is subject to a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine because
the employee has returned to the United States after traveling to a
country for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a
level two or three travel health notice and the travel to that country
was not taken as part of the employee's employment or at the direction
of the employee's employer, and if the employee was provided notice of
S. 8091 3
the travel health notice and the limitations of this subdivision prior
to such travel. Such employee shall be eligible to use accrued leave
provided by the employer, or to the extent that such employee does not
have accrued leave or sufficient accrued leave, unpaid sick leave shall
be provided for the duration of the mandatory or precautionary quaran-
tine or isolation.
5. The commissioner of labor shall have authority to adopt regu-
lations, including emergency regulations, and issue guidance to effectu-
ate any of the provisions of this act. Employers shall comply with regu-
lations promulgated by the commissioner of labor for this purpose which
may include, but is not limited to, standards for the use, payment, and
employee eligibility of sick leave pursuant to this act.
6. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and for purposes of
this act only, for purposes of article 9 of the workers' compensation
law, "disability" shall mean: any inability of an employee to perform
the regular duties of his or her employment or the duties of any other
employment which his or her employer may offer him or her as a result of
a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by
the state, the department of health, a local board of health, or any
government entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19
and when the employee has exhausted all paid sick leave provided by the
employee's employer under this act.
7. Notwithstanding subdivision 1 of section 204 of the workers'
compensation law, disability benefits payable pursuant to this act shall
be payable on the first day of disability.
8. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and for purposes of
this act only, for purposes of article 9 of the workers' compensation
law, "family leave" shall mean: (a) any leave taken by an employee from
work when an employee is subject to a mandatory or precautionary order
of quarantine or isolation issued by the state, the department of
health, a local board of health, or any government entity duly author-
ized to issue such order due to COVID-19; or (b) to provide care for a
minor dependent child of the employee who is subject to a mandatory or
precautionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by the state, the
department of health, a local board of health, or any government entity
duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19.
9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and for purposes of
this act only, for purposes of article 9 of the workers' compensation
law, disability and family leave benefits pursuant to this act may be
payable concurrently to an eligible employee upon the first full day of
an unpaid period of mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or
isolation issued by the state of New York, the department of health, a
local board of health, or any government entity duly authorized to issue
such order due to COVID-19, provided however, an employee may not
collect any benefits that would exceed $840.70 in paid family leave and
$2,043.92 in benefits due pursuant to disability per week.
10. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and for purposes of
this act only, for purposes of article 9 of the workers' compensation
law, the maximum weekly benefit which the employee is entitled to
receive for benefits due pursuant to disability pursuant to subdivision
six of this section only shall be the difference between the maximum
weekly family leave benefit and such employee's total average weekly
wage from each covered employer up to a maximum benefit due pursuant to
disability of $2,043.92 per week.
11. Notwithstanding subdivision 7 of section 590, and subdivision 2 of
section 607, of the labor law, a claim for benefits under article 18 of
S. 8091 4
the labor law due to closure of an employer otherwise subject to this
section for a reason related to COVID-19 or due to a mandatory order of
a government entity duly authorized to issue such order to close such
employer otherwise subject to this section, shall not be subject to a
waiting period for a claim for benefits pursuant to such title.
12. A mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation
issued by the state, the department of health, a local board of health,
or any government entity duly authorized to issue such order due to
COVID-19 shall be sufficient proof of disability or proof of need for
family leave taken pursuant to this act.
13. The provisions of this act shall not apply in cases where an
employee is deemed asymptomatic or has not yet been diagnosed with any
medical condition and is physically able to work while under a mandatory
or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation, whether through
remote access or other similar means.
14. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to impede, infringe,
diminish or impair the rights of a public employee or employer under any
law, rule, regulation or collectively negotiated agreement, or the
rights and benefits which accrue to employees through collective
bargaining agreements, or otherwise diminish the integrity of the exist-
ing collective bargaining relationship, or to prohibit any personnel
action which otherwise would have been taken regardless of any request
to use, or utilization of, any leave provided by this act.
15. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, on or before
June 1, 2020, the superintendent of financial services by regulation, in
consultation with the director of the state insurance fund and the chair
of the workers' compensation board of the state, shall promulgate regu-
lations necessary for the implementation of a risk adjustment pool to be
administered directly by the superintendent of financial services, in
consultation with the director of the state insurance fund and the chair
of the workers' compensation board of the state. "Risk adjustment pool"
as used in this subdivision shall mean the process used to stabilize
member claims pursuant to this act in order to protect insurers from
disproportionate adverse risks. Disproportionate losses of any members
of the risk adjustment pool in excess of threshold limits established by
the superintendent of financial services of the state may be supported,
if required by the superintendent, by other members of such pool includ-
ing the state insurance fund in a proportion to be determined by the
superintendent. Any such support provided by members of the pool shall
be fully repaid, including reasonable interest, through a mechanism and
period of time to be determined by the superintendent of financial
services.
16. (a) The superintendent of financial services, in consultation
with the director of the state insurance fund and the chair of the work-
ers' compensation board shall issue two reports assessing the risk
adjustment pool required by this act.
(b) On or before January 1, 2022, an initial report shall be provided
to the speaker of the assembly, the chair of the assembly ways and means
committee and the chair of the assembly labor committee, the temporary
president of the senate, the chair of the senate finance committee and
the chair of the senate labor committee. Such report shall include:
the total number of claims filed pursuant to this section for (i) family
leave benefits, and (ii) benefits due to disability, as a result of a
mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due to
COVID-19; the aggregate amount of paid family leave claims and disabili-
ty claims; the total amount of the claims paid for out of the risk
S. 8091 5
adjustment pool; the threshold limits established by the department of
financial services; and any other information the superintendent of
financial services deems necessary to provide to the legislature.
(c) On or before January 1, 2025, a final report shall be provided to
the speaker of the assembly, the chair of the assembly ways and means
committee and the chair of the assembly labor committee, the temporary
president of the senate, the chair of the senate finance committee and
the chair of the senate labor committee. Such report shall include the
balance of the risk adjustment pool, if any, the total amount collected
through the repayment mechanism established by the department of finan-
cial services including interest; and any other information the super-
intendent of financial services deems necessary to provide to the legis-
lature. If there exists a balance in the risk adjustment pool, the
final report shall provide a timeline by which repayment will be
completed.
17. If at any point while this section shall be in effect the federal
government by law or regulation provides sick leave and/or employee
benefits for employees related to COVID-19, then the provisions of this
section, including, but not limited to, paid sick leave, paid family
leave, and benefits due to disability, shall not be available to any
employee otherwise subject to the provisions of this section; provided,
however, that if the provisions of this section would have provided sick
leave and/or employee benefits in excess of the benefits provided by the
federal government by law or regulation, then such employee shall be
able to claim such additional sick leave and/or employee benefits pursu-
ant to the provisions of this section in an amount that shall be the
difference between the benefits available under this section and the
benefits available to such employee, if any, as provided by such federal
law or regulation.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
