COVID-19 MANDATORY PAID SICK LEAVE

March 19, 2020
Bill Guarantees Paid Leave for Those Quarantined by COVID-19

The New York State Assembly passed new legislation last night that will provide employees sick leave for all New York residents during the COVID-19 outbreak.   

"In New York we stand with our workers in sickness and in health." Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a released statement last night after the New York State Assembly passed new legislation.  He signed the bill Wednesday evening, It provides mandatory sick leave for all New York residents during the COVID-19 outbreak.

"No one should have to make the impossible choice between losing their job or providing for their family and going to work, especially during this pandemic," Cuomo said.  "I just signed into law legislation to provide immediate relief to working New Yorkers whose lives are being turned upside down by COVID-19. No one should have to make the impossible choice between losing their job or providing for their family and going to work, especially during this pandemic. We seek to build upon this effort with guaranteed sick leave for all in this year's budget."

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie released this comment, “The legislation we passed will help save lives by ensuring people that are sick stay home, and it will allow people to recover without having to worry about losing their livelihood. The Assembly Majority will continue working, both safely and relentlessly, to put New York families first during this health emergency and beyond.”

All private and public sector employees will be eligible for sick leave and wage replacement while they are quarantined, regardless of whether it's mandatory or precautionary.

The degree of paid leave depends on the size of the employer:

  • Small sized employers, which includes employers with 10 or fewer employees and that have a net income of less than $1 million, would receive unpaid sick leave and immediately become eligible for Paid Family Leave and Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) benefits.
  • Medium sized employers, which includes employers with 10 or fewer employees that have a net income of greater than $1 million and employers with between 11 and 99 employees, would receive at least five days of paid sick leave, followed by eligibility for Paid Family Leave and TDI benefits.
  • Employers with 100 or more employees, as well as all public employees, would receive a minimum of 14 days of paid sick leave.

"The bill will allow these employees to collect Paid Family Leave benefits, supplemented by increased TDI benefits to make their weekly wages whole, for those who earn up to a maximum of $150,000 annually. Additionally, it eliminates the waiting period for these benefits, as well as for unemployment insurance for claims related to the coronavirus. It also expands Paid Family Leave benefits to cover an employee or their dependent child if they are under a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation due to coronavirus," a release from the state assembly says. 

Cuomo had announced that all state employees will be guaranteed two full weeks of paid sick leave if they are quarantined. 

"The single most effective way to contain the spread of this virus is to ensure people who may have come into contact with it do not interact with others," Cuomo said. "Last week I said we would lead by example by guaranteeing two weeks' pay for state workers who have been quarantined as a result of covid-1. The paid sick leave measure we've agreed to today expands those protections to all new Yorkers - because no New Yorker should lose their job or income for following a critical public health order."

"This is an extraordinary time in this nation's history, and it will go down in the history books as one of those moments of true crisis and confusion," Cuomo added. "So my message to New Yorkers is this: Be a little bit more sensitive, understand the stress, understand the fear, be a little bit more loving, a little bit more compassionate, a little bit more comforting, a little bit more cooperative. We are going to get through it and we are going to get through it together."

"Represent NYC" will speak to Assemblymember Yuh Lin Niou on Friday, March 20th at 11:30AM on Facebook Live that will air on MNN HD.