Bill Text: NY S08617 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended


Bill Title: Requires public employers to adopt a plan for operations in the event of a declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease which shall include identification of essential personnel, needed personal protective equipment, staggering work shifts and providing necessary technology for telecommuting.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-09-07 - APPROVAL MEMO.7 [S08617 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S08617-Amended.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8617--B

                    IN SENATE

                                      June 22, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  GOUNARDES,  BAILEY, HOYLMAN, LIU, MYRIE, RAMOS --
          read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to
          the Committee on Rules -- committee discharged and said bill committed
          to  the  Committee  on  Labor  --  committee discharged, bill amended,
          ordered reprinted as amended and  recommitted  to  said  committee  --
          committee  discharged,  bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
          recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring public employers
          to adopt a plan for operations in  the  event  of  a  declared  public
          health  emergency  involving  a communicable disease; and to amend the
          education law, in relation to certain protocols for  responding  to  a
          declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new  section  27-c  to
     2  read as follows:
     3    §  27-c.  Duty  of  public employers to develop operation plans in the
     4  event of certain declared public health emergencies.  1.    Definitions.
     5  For the purposes of this section:
     6    a.  "Personal  protective  equipment" shall mean all equipment worn to
     7  minimize exposure to hazards, including  gloves,  masks,  face  shields,
     8  foot  and  eye protection, protective hearing devices, respirators, hard
     9  hats, and disposable gowns and aprons.
    10    b. "Public employer" or "employer" shall mean the state of New York, a
    11  county, city, town, village or any other political subdivision or  civil
    12  division  of the state, a public authority, commission or public benefit
    13  corporation, or any other public corporation, agency, instrumentality or
    14  unit of government which exercises governmental power under the laws  of
    15  this  state,  provided, however, that this subdivision shall not include
    16  any employer as defined in section twenty-eight  hundred  one-a  of  the
    17  education law.
    18    c.  "Contractor" shall mean an individual performing services as party
    19  to a contract awarded by the state of  New  York  or  any  other  public
    20  employer defined in paragraph b of this subdivision.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD16049-10-0

        S. 8617--B                          2

     1    d. "Essential" shall refer to a designation made that a public employ-
     2  ee  or contractor is required to be physically present at a work site to
     3  perform his or her job.
     4    e.  "Non-essential"  shall  refer  to a designation made that a public
     5  employee or contractor is not required to be  physically  present  at  a
     6  work site to perform his or her job.
     7    f.  "Communicable  disease"  shall mean an illness caused by an infec-
     8  tious agent or its toxins that occurs through  the  direct  or  indirect
     9  transmission  of  the  infectious agent or its products from an infected
    10  individual or via an animal, vector or the inanimate  environment  to  a
    11  susceptible animal or human host.
    12    g.   "Retaliatory   action"  shall  mean  the  discharge,  suspension,
    13  demotion, penalization, or discrimination against any employee, or other
    14  adverse employment action taken against an employee  in  the  terms  and
    15  conditions of employment.
    16    2.  Each public employer in the state of New York shall prepare a plan
    17  for the continuation of  operations  in  the  event  that  the  governor
    18  declares  a  public  health  emergency involving a communicable disease.
    19  Such plans shall follow the provisions for  review  and  publication  as
    20  prescribed in subdivision four of this section.
    21    3. The operations plan required by this section shall include, but not
    22  be limited to:
    23    a. A list and description of positions and titles considered essential
    24  in  the event of a state-ordered reduction of in-person workforce, and a
    25  justification  of  such  consideration  for  each  position  and   title
    26  included.
    27    b.  A  specific  description  of protocols the employer will follow in
    28  order to enable all non-essential employees and contractors to  telecom-
    29  mute  including,  but  not  limited  to,  facilitating or requesting the
    30  procurement, distribution, downloading and installation  of  any  needed
    31  devices  or technology, including software, data, office laptops or cell
    32  phones, and the transferring of office phone lines to work  or  personal
    33  cell phones as practicable or applicable to the workplace.
    34    c.  A  description  of  how the employer will, to the extent possible,
    35  stagger work shifts of essential employees and contractors in  order  to
    36  reduce overcrowding on public transportation systems and at worksites.
    37    d.  A description of the protocol the employer will implement in order
    38  to procure the appropriate personal protective equipment  for  essential
    39  employees  and  contractors,  based  upon the various tasks and needs of
    40  such employees and contractors in a quantity sufficient  to  provide  at
    41  least  two  pieces of each type of personal protective equipment to each
    42  essential employee and contractor during any given work  shift  over  at
    43  least six months. Such description shall also include a plan for storage
    44  of  such equipment to prevent degradation and permit immediate access in
    45  the event of an emergency declaration.
    46    e. A description of the protocol in the event an employee or  contrac-
    47  tor  is  exposed to a known case of the communicable disease that is the
    48  subject of the  public  health  emergency,  exhibits  symptoms  of  such
    49  disease,  or  tests  positive  for  such disease in order to prevent the
    50  spread or contraction of such disease in the  workplace.  Such  protocol
    51  shall  also  detail  actions  to  be taken to immediately and thoroughly
    52  disinfect the work area of any employee or contractor known or suspected
    53  to be infected with the communicable disease as well as any common  area
    54  surface  and  shared  equipment  such  employee  or  contractor may have
    55  touched, and the employer policy on available leave in the event of  the
    56  need of an employee to receive testing, treatment, isolation, or quaran-

        S. 8617--B                          3

     1  tine.  Such protocol shall not involve any action that would violate any
     2  existing federal, state, or local law, including regarding sick leave or
     3  health information privacy.
     4    f.  A  protocol  for  documenting  precise  hours  and work locations,
     5  including off-site visits, for essential employees and contractors. Such
     6  protocol shall be designed only to aid in tracking of the disease and to
     7  identify the population of exposed employees and contractors in order to
     8  facilitate the provision of any  benefits  which  may  be  available  to
     9  certain employees and contractors on that basis.
    10    g.  A protocol for how the public employer will work with such employ-
    11  er's locality to identify sites  for  emergency  housing  for  essential
    12  employees  in  order  to  further contain the spread of the communicable
    13  disease that is the subject of the declared  emergency,  to  the  extent
    14  applicable to the needs of the workplace.
    15    4. Once drafted, each public employer shall present the plan described
    16  in this section to all applicable duly recognized or certified represen-
    17  tatives of the employer's employees, who shall then be granted an oppor-
    18  tunity  to  review  the  plan and make recommendations, if any, provided
    19  that nothing shall preclude such representatives from making such recom-
    20  mendations prior to the draft being completed. The employer must consid-
    21  er and respond to such recommendations in writing  within  a  reasonable
    22  timeframe.  A  copy  of  the  final  version  of such plan shall then be
    23  published in a clear and conspicuous location, and in the employee hand-
    24  book, to the extent that the employer  provides  such  handbook  to  its
    25  employees, and in a location accessible on either the employer's website
    26  or  on  the  internet  accessible  by  employees. No employer shall take
    27  retaliatory action or otherwise discriminate against  any  employee  for
    28  making suggestions or recommendations regarding the content of the plan.
    29    5.  The  department  shall  establish  procedures  to allow for public
    30  employees or contract workers to contact and inform  the  department  of
    31  any alleged or believed violations of any of the provisions described in
    32  this section.
    33    6. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to impede, infringe, dimin-
    34  ish or impair the rights of a public employee or employer under any law,
    35  rule, regulation or collectively negotiated agreement, or the rights and
    36  benefits  which accrue to employees through collective bargaining agree-
    37  ments, or otherwise diminish the integrity of  the  existing  collective
    38  bargaining relationship.
    39    § 2. Section 27-a of the labor law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
    40  sion 6-a to read as follows:
    41    6-a.  Form  of  complaints. The department shall establish a dedicated
    42  webpage and hotline through which any public employee under  the  juris-
    43  diction  of  this  section or contractor as defined by the chapter which
    44  added this subdivision may report alleged or believed violations of  any
    45  state  law,  regulation, rule or guidance related to occupational health
    46  and safety involving a communicable disease, including but  not  limited
    47  to  the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Such webpage and hotline shall allow
    48  individuals to report alleged or believed violations anonymously.
    49    § 3. Paragraphs k and l of subdivision 2  of  section  2801-a  of  the
    50  education  law,  as  amended by section 1 of part B of chapter 56 of the
    51  laws of 2016, are amended to read as follows:
    52    k. a description of the duties of hall monitors and any  other  school
    53  safety  personnel,  the  training  required of all personnel acting in a
    54  school security capacity, and the hiring and screening process  for  all
    55  personnel acting in a school security capacity; [and]

        S. 8617--B                          4

     1    l.  the  designation of the superintendent, or superintendent's desig-
     2  nee, as the district chief emergency officer responsible for  coordinat-
     3  ing  communication  between  school  staff and law enforcement and first
     4  responders, and ensuring staff understanding of the district-level safe-
     5  ty  plan.  The  chief  emergency  officer  shall also be responsible for
     6  ensuring the completion and yearly updating of building-level  emergency
     7  response plans; or
     8    m.  protocols  for  responding  to  a declared public health emergency
     9  involving a communicable disease that are substantially consistent  with
    10  the provisions of section twenty-seven-c of the labor law.
    11    §  4.  This  act shall take effect immediately; provided, however that
    12  the operation plans in the event of certain declared public health emer-
    13  gencies established pursuant to section 27-c of the labor law  shall  be
    14  finalized and published, the hotline and webpage established pursuant to
    15  section 27-a of the labor law shall be functional, and the protocols for
    16  responding  to a declared public health emergency involving a communica-
    17  ble disease pursuant to paragraph m of subdivision 2 of  section  2801-a
    18  of  the education law shall be established and functional within 30 days
    19  of the effective date of this act.
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