Gov. Cuomo announces paid sick leave bill for ‘immediate assistance’ to those impacted by COVID-19

by: WROC Staff

Posted: Mar 17, 2020 / 01:08 PM EDT / Updated: Mar 17, 2020 / 10:24 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WROC) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday a three-way agreement with the New York State Legislature on a paid sick leave bill to provide “immediate assistance” for New Yorkers impacted by COVID-19.

Officials from the governor’s office say the bill “guarantees job protection and pay for New Yorkers quarantined” amid the coronavirus outbreak. Officials say the legislation also adopts a “comprehensive” paid sick leave proposal which was first advanced in the governor’s executive budget.

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. 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.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo

To address the immediate need of employees affected by COVID-19 who are subject to mandatory or precautionary orders of quarantine or isolation, the Governor’s legislation will provide the following:

Employers with under 11 employees and a net income less than $1 million will provide job protection for the duration of the quarantine order, and guarantee their workers access to Paid Family Leave and disability benefits (short-term disability) for the period of quarantine including wage replacement for their salaries up to $150,000.
Employers with 11-99 employees and employers with 10 or fewer employees and a net income greater than $1 million will provide at least 5 days of paid sick leave, job protection for the duration of the quarantine order, and guarantee their workers access to Paid Family Leave and disability benefits (short-term disability) for the period of quarantine including wage replacement for their salaries up to $150,000.
Employers with 100 or more employees, as well as all public employers (regardless of number of employees), will provide at least 14 days of paid sick leave and guarantee job protection for the duration of the quarantine order.

The provisions of the quarantine legislation are set to take effect immediately upon passage.

Also included in the legislation:

Employers with 4 or fewer employees and a net income less than $1 million will provide at least 5 days of unpaid sick leave each year.
Employers with 5-99 employees and employers with 4 or fewer employees and a net income greater than $1 million will provide at least 5 days of paid sick leave each year.
Employers with 100 or more employees will provide at least 7 days of paid sick leave each year.

At last official count Tuesday, there was 432 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York, bringing the state total to 1,374 confirmed cases statewide. The geographic breakdown is as follows: