NY Paid COVID Sick Leave Sunset July 31, 2025 & Leave Reminders

Burr to Present at STI/SPFA Annual Meeting: The State of Marijuana in the Workplace

Latest SHRM Article Feature: Competencies in Action: Workplace Communication

New York Paid COVID Sick Leave Sunset July 31, 2025 & Leave Reminders ? As an employer, there are important things for you to know – and actions to take – related to the COVID-19 quarantine leave legislation?signed?into law in March 2020.?This law expires July 31, 2025. New York COVID Sick Leave Update:

Number of Employees? (As of Jan. 1, 2020)Amount of Sick Leave?Supplemental Benefits0-10 employees; net income of $1 million or less in the prior tax yearUnpaid leave for duration of the orderCombined COVID-19 Paid Family Leave (PFL) and Disability Leave Benefits (DBL) for the duration of the order0-10 employees; net income of more than $1 million in the prior tax year5 days of paid sick leaveCombined PFL and DBL for the duration of the order11-99 employees5 days of paid sick leaveCombined PFL and DBL for the duration of the order100+ employees14 days of paid sick leave?

? Employee’s Own Quarantine/Isolation The leave available to employees if they are subject to a?mandatory or?precautionary order of quarantine or isolation?depends on the size of your business as of January 1, 2020,?and/or whether you are a private or public employer. ? Small businesses?with 10 or fewer employees?as of January 1, 2020,?and that had a net annual income less than $1 million in the previous year must provide your employees with:

• Job protectionisolation.id COVID-19 sick leave for the duration?of the?order of quarantine or isolation

Your eligible employees can access benefits through your Paid Family Leave and disability benefits policy, for the duration of the order of quarantine or isolation. Medium businesses?with 11-99 employees?as of January 1, 2020,?and smaller employers (1-10 employees) that had a net annual income greater than $1 million in the previous year must provide your employees with:

• Job protection for the duration of the?order of quarantine or isolation
• At least 5 days of paid COVID-19 sick leave for use during a period of quarantine or isolation

Your?eligible?employees can then access benefits through your Paid Family Leave and disability benefits policy. ?Large businesses?with 100 or more?employees?as of January 1, 2020,?must provide your employees with:

• Job protection for the duration of the order of quarantine or isolation
• At least 14 days of paid COVID-19 sick leave for use during a period of quarantine or isolation?

Public employers?(regardless of employee count) must provide your employees with

• Job protection for the duration of the?order of quarantine or isolation
• At least 14 days of paid COVID-19 sick leave for use during a period of quarantine or isolation

Employer Responsibilities Your role in implementing the COVID-19 sick leave provided through Paid Family Leave and disability benefits, whether you're self-insured or providing these benefits through an insurance carrier,?is largely the same as it has been for NY Paid Family Leave overall; however, there are new COVID-19-specific forms and attestations.?

• Inform yourself, then inform your employees:?Make sure you understand the law yourself. Let your employees know that these benefits are available to them, should they, or their minor dependent child, be subject to?a mandatory or?precautionary order of quarantine or isolation. If you have a specific process for handling these claims with your employees, advise them accordingly.
• Respond to requests for leave:?Familiarize yourself with your role in the request process for COVID-19-related Paid Family Leave and/or disability benefits. Here’s how the request process works:

Employee notifies you of their intent to request leave and gets the appropriate form package (or you can provide the forms to them)

• Request for COVID-19 Quarantine DB/PFL - Self (Forms PFL-1?&?SCOVID19)
• Request for COVID-19 Quarantine PFL - Child (Forms PFL-1 & CCOVID19)

Complete and return:?Each request package has two forms, which have sections to be completed by the employee and you as the employer.? The employee will fill out their portion of each form, keep a copy, and submit the package to you for completing your sections, which ask you to:

• Provide the employee’s average weekly wage. An?employee’s average weekly wage (AWW) is computed by adding the employee's wages for the eight weeks prior to the start of Paid Family Leave and dividing the total by eight. For a sole proprietor who has opted into Paid Family Leave, the average weekly wage will be the last 52 weeks of income divided by 52.
• Attest that the employee has used any quarantine paid sick time?and is not able to work remotely.

Keep a copy for your records and return the completed request package to the employee within three business days.?If you fail to return the forms within three business days, the employee can proceed without your information. ? Employee submits to insurer:? The employee is responsible for submitting their completed request package directly?to your DB/PFL insurance carrier within 30 days of their first day of leave. Employees may ask you for the name and contact information of your insurance carrier.? Employees may also access this information by calling the Paid Family Leave Insurer pays or denies benefits:?The insurance carrier must pay or deny the employee’s request within 18 calendar days of receiving the completed request.

• Ensure Other Protections:?You are also responsible for ensuring important employee protections.Job protection:?You must reinstate the employee to the same or a comparable position, upon returning from leave.No discrimination:?You cannot discriminate or retaliate against an employee for requesting or taking Paid Family Leave.Continued health insurance:?You must continue to provide health insurance on the same?terms as if the employee had continued to work?while they are on Paid Family Leave.?If employees regularly?contribute to the cost of their health insurance, they must continue to pay their portion of the cost while on leave.?

Additionally, the guidance sets forth the following protocols for returning employees to work after completing a period of quarantine/isolation under the Leave:

1. Employees are not required to be tested for COVID-19 before returning to work (except for nursing home staff).
2. If an employee tests positive for COVID-19 after returning to work, they must not report to work.
3. If an employee continues to test positive for COVID-19 after finishing a period of quarantine/isolation, but before returning to work, they must not report to work; and
4. Employees meeting the criteria of scenarios two or three above will be deemed subject to a mandatory order of isolation and must be provided with Leave, regardless of whether the employee already received such Leave. However, the employee must submit documentation from a medical provider or testing facility to attest that they tested positive for COVID-19 (except where the employer is the entity that conducted the test)

Additional Resources:

• https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/covid-19-paid-leave-guidance-employers
• https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0301-respiratory-virus.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/covid/

New York’s Reproductive Health Handbook Notice Requirement Reinstated “On January 2, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit?vacated?a permanent injunction, which had blocked a requirement that New York employers with employee handbooks include a notice against discrimination based on reproductive health care choices. As a result, handbooks covering New York employees must?again?include such notices. The notice requirement originates from a series of legislation intended to protect reproductive health rights enacted on November 8, 2019. As we previously?reported, one of the bills (A584/S660) added Section 203-e to the New York labor law, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on an employee’s or their dependents’ sexual and reproductive health choices, including their choice to use or access a particular drug, device, or medical service. The law also prohibits employers from accessing such information without prior consent, and directed New York employers with employee handbooks to include a notice of employee rights and remedies. Although the law took effect immediately upon passage, a second bill (S4413) delayed the effective date of the notice requirement until January 2020. A little more than two years later, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York blocked the notice requirement. In?CompassCare et al. v. Cuomo, several faith-based employers challenged Section 203-e in its entirety as violative of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although the District Court dismissed most of the claims, on?March 29, 2022, the court permanently enjoined enforcement of the notice requirement stating that it “would compel [the plaintiffs] to promote a message about conduct contrary to their religious perspectives” as they relate to reproductive health choices, such as birth control and abortion. The court found that, while New York has a compelling interest in protecting employee privacy, the State had not demonstrated that the notice requirement was the least restrictive means of achieving that interest. For example, employers could inform employees of their rights and the remedies under the law in other ways, such as placing posters at the job site, or advertising the statutory provision generally. On appeal nearly three years later, the Second Circuit vacated the permanent injunction, thus reinstating the handbook notice requirement. The Second Circuit panel found that the requirement is similar to other state and federal laws requiring workplace disclosures and noted that while the policy judgments motivating Section 203-e may be “controversial”, so are those underlying Title VII or minimum wage laws, but that does not make an employer’s obligation to comply controversial. The Second Circuit also stated that the notice requirement does not prevent employers from otherwise communicating to employees, in their handbooks or elsewhere, their political or religious views, including their disagreement with Section 203-e. In light of the Second Circuit’s decision, New York employers should review and revise their employee handbook to include a notice of employees’ reproductive health rights and remedies as provided by Section 203-e. The law does not provide specific language to include – and New York has not published a model notice or any further guidance on the law to date – thus, employers should consult employment counsel to ensure that their handbook notice satisfies the law’s requirements.” (https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/new-york-s-reproductive-health-handbook-4152643/) ?

Exciting Update: Talentscape Search Joins MRINetwork

– Matthew Burr, HR Consultant