Bill Text: NY S08955 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Relates to providing hazard payments to essential workers during a state disaster emergency; provides that certain employers shall make hazard payments to essential workers during a state disaster emergency provided no hazard payment shall exceed twenty-five thousand dollars in any year for any essential worker earning less than two hundred thousand dollars per year or five thousand dollars for any essential worker earning more than two hundred thousand dollars.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-09-02 - REFERRED TO RULES [S08955 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S08955-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8955

                    IN SENATE

                                    September 2, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

        AN  ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to providing hazard payments
          to essential workers during a state disaster emergency

          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 196-c to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 196-c. Essential worker hazard payments. 1. For the purposes of this
     4  section:
     5    (a) "essential worker" means any employee  of  an  employer  providing
     6  essential  services  or  functions  during  any state disaster emergency
     7  declared pursuant to article two-B of the executive law  and  designated
     8  as  an  essential worker pursuant to any law, rule, regulation or execu-
     9  tive order including but not limited to essential health care operations
    10  including research and  laboratory  services;  essential  infrastructure
    11  including  utilities,  telecommunication,  airports  and  transportation
    12  infrastructure; essential retail including grocery  stores  and  pharma-
    13  cies;  essential services including trash collection, mail, and shipping
    14  services; news media; banks and related financial institutions;  provid-
    15  ers  of  basic  necessities  to  economically disadvantaged populations;
    16  construction; vendors of essential services necessary  to  maintain  the
    17  safety,  sanitation  and  essential  operations  of  residences or other
    18  essential  businesses;  vendors  that  provide  essential  services   or
    19  products,  including  logistics  and  technology support, child care and
    20  services needed to ensure the continuing operation of  government  agen-
    21  cies and provide for the health, safety and welfare of the public;
    22    (b) "employer" means a formula retail store, large employer, transpor-
    23  tation  business, or franchisee or subcontractor, and includes any indi-
    24  vidual, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability  compa-
    25  ny,  business  trust,  legal  representative,  or any organized group of
    26  persons acting as such an employer;
    27    (c) "formula retail store" means any employer that operates  a  retail
    28  sales or restaurant establishment either directly or through franchisees

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD16176-02-0

        S. 8955                             2

     1  and  that,  along  with  eleven or more other retail sales or restaurant
     2  establishments located in the United States, maintains two  or  more  of
     3  the  following  features:  (i)  a  standardized  array of merchandise, a
     4  standardized  facade,  a  standardized decor and color scheme, a uniform
     5  apparel, standardized signage, a trademark; or (ii) a servicemark;
     6    (d) "large employer" means any employer that has annual gross  revenue
     7  of fifty million dollars or more, but shall not include: (i) an employer
     8  whose  principal  industry  is  manufacturing;  or (ii) a not-for-profit
     9  organization. An employer shall be deemed to have annual  gross  revenue
    10  of  fifty million dollars or more if it had revenue at or exceeding that
    11  level in any of the past three fiscal or calendar years;
    12    (e) "manufacturing" means the process of working  raw  materials  into
    13  products  suitable for use or which gives new shapes, new quality or new
    14  combinations to matter which has already gone  through  some  artificial
    15  process  by  the  use  of machinery, tools, appliances, or other similar
    16  equipment;
    17    (f) "not-for-profit organization" means an entity exempt from taxation
    18  under section 501(c)(3) of the federal internal revenue code;
    19    (g) "transportation business" means any industry, business, or  estab-
    20  lishment  operated for the purpose of conveying persons or property from
    21  one place to another whether by rail, highway, air, or  water,  and  all
    22  operations and services in connection therewith; and
    23    (h)  "franchisee  or  subcontractor"  means any employer that operates
    24  under a franchise agreement with a formula retail store or large employ-
    25  er, or that provides services, including but not limited to  janitorial,
    26  maintenance,  security,  staffing, passenger services, food services, or
    27  temporary services to a formula retail store, large employer, or  trans-
    28  portation business.
    29    2.  During  a  state  disaster  emergency,  when essential workers are
    30  exposed as a result of their work assignments to an  unavoidable,  clear
    31  and  direct risk and hazard to safety and health, the commissioner shall
    32  direct all employers of essential workers to  make  hazard  payments  to
    33  such  essential  workers.  Such payment shall be a percentage or a fixed
    34  dollar amount, as prescribed by the commissioner, provided, however,  no
    35  hazard payment shall exceed twenty-five thousand dollars in any year for
    36  any  essential worker earning less than two hundred thousand dollars per
    37  year or five thousand dollars for any essential worker earning more than
    38  two hundred thousand dollars. Such payments shall be in addition to  and
    39  shall  not  be  part  of  an essential worker's basic annual salary, and
    40  shall  not  affect  or  impair  any  performance  advancement  payments,
    41  performance  awards,  longevity  payments or other rights or benefits to
    42  which an essential worker may be entitled. A  hazard  payment  shall  be
    43  terminated upon the cessation of the state disaster emergency.
    44    3. The commissioner shall adopt regulations necessary to carry out the
    45  provisions of this section.
    46    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
feedback