Bill Text: NY A00980 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires public employers to adopt a plan for operations in the event of a declared state disaster emergency involving a communicable disease; establishes certain protocols necessary for responding to a declared state disaster emergency involving a communicable disease in an educational setting.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-02-16 - signed chap.30 [A00980 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A00980-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 980 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 6, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor 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 state disas- ter emergency involving a communicable disease; to amend the education law, in relation to certain protocols for responding to a declared state disaster emergency involving a communicable disease; and to amend a chapter of the laws of 2020, amending the labor law relating to requiring public employers to adopt a plan for operations in the event of a declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease; and amending the education law relating to certain protocols for responding to a declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease; and amending the education law relating to certain protocols for responding to a declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S.8617B and A.10832, in relation to requiring public employers to adopt a plan for operations in the event of a declared state disas- ter 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. Section 27-c of the labor law, as added by section 1 of a 2 chapter of the laws of 2020, amending the labor law relating to requir- 3 ing public employers to adopt a plan for operations in the event of a 4 declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease; and 5 amending the education law relating to certain protocols for responding 6 to a declared public health emergency involving a communicable disease, 7 as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8617B and A. 10832, is 8 amended to read as follows: 9 § 27-c. [Duty] Preparation of public employers [to develop operation10plans in the event of certain declared public health emergencies] for EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07126-01-1A. 980 2 1 state disaster emergencies involving public health. 1. Definitions. For 2 the purposes of this section: 3 a. "Personal protective equipment" shall mean all equipment worn to 4 minimize exposure to hazards, including gloves, masks, face shields, 5 foot and eye protection, protective hearing devices, respirators, hard 6 hats, and disposable gowns and aprons. 7 b. "Public employer" or "employer" shall mean the state of New York, a 8 county, city, town, village or any other political subdivision or civil 9 division of the state, a public authority, commission or public benefit 10 corporation, or any other public corporation, agency, instrumentality or 11 unit of government which exercises governmental power under the laws of 12 this state, provided, however, that this subdivision shall not include 13 any employer as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one-a of the 14 education law. 15 c. ["Contractor" shall mean an individual performing services as party16to a contract awarded by the state of New York or any other public17employer defined in paragraph b of this subdivision.18d.] "Essential" shall refer to a designation made that a public 19 employee [or contractor] is required to be physically present at a work 20 site to perform his or her job. Such designation may be changed at any 21 time in the sole discretion of the employer. 22 [e.] d. "Non-essential" shall refer to a designation made that a 23 public employee [or contractor] is not required to be physically present 24 at a work site to perform his or her job. Such designation may be 25 changed at any time in the sole discretion of the employer. 26 [f.] e. "Communicable disease" shall mean an illness caused by an 27 infectious agent or its toxins that occurs through the direct or indi- 28 rect transmission of the infectious agent or its products from an 29 infected individual [or via an animal, vector or the inanimate environ-30ment to a susceptible animal or human host]. 31 [g.] f. "Retaliatory action" shall mean the discharge, suspension, 32 demotion, [penalization,] or discrimination against any employee, or 33 other adverse employment action taken against an employee in the terms 34 and conditions of employment. 35 2. Each public employer in the state of New York shall prepare a plan 36 for the continuation of operations in the event that the governor 37 declares a [public health] state disaster emergency involving a communi- 38 cable disease. Such plans shall follow the provisions for review and 39 publication as prescribed in subdivision four of this section. 40 3. The operations plan required by this section shall include, but not 41 be limited to: 42 a. A list and description of the types of positions [and titles] 43 considered essential in the event of a state-ordered reduction of 44 in-person workforce[, and a justification of such consideration for each45position and title included]. 46 b. A [specific] description of protocols the employer will follow [in47order to enable all] for non-essential employees [and contractors] to 48 telecommute including, but not limited to, facilitating or requesting 49 the procurement, distribution, downloading and installation of any need- 50 ed [devices or] technology, including software, data, [office laptops or51cell phones,] and the transferring of office phone lines to work or 52 personal cell phones as practicable or applicable to the workplace, and 53 may include devices. 54 c. A description of how the employer will, to the extent possible, 55 stagger work shifts of essential employees [and contractors] in order to 56 reduce overcrowding on public transportation systems and at worksites.A. 980 3 1 d. A description of the protocol the employer will implement in order 2 to procure the appropriate personal protective equipment for essential 3 employees [and contractors], based upon the various tasks and needs of 4 such employees [and contractors] in a quantity sufficient to provide [at5least two pieces of each type of] personal protective equipment to each 6 essential employee [and contractor] during any given work shift [over at7least six months]. Such description shall also include a plan for stor- 8 age of such equipment to prevent degradation and permit immediate access 9 in the event of an emergency declaration. 10 e. A description of the protocol in the event an employee [or contrac-11tor] is exposed to a known case of the communicable disease that is the 12 subject of the [public health] state disaster emergency, exhibits symp- 13 toms of such disease, or tests positive for such disease in order to 14 prevent the spread or contraction of such disease in the workplace. Such 15 protocol shall also detail actions to be taken to immediately and thor- 16 oughly disinfect the work area of any employee [or contractor] known or 17 suspected to be infected with the communicable disease as well as any 18 common area surface and shared equipment such employee [or contractor] 19 may have touched, and the employer policy on available leave in the 20 event of the need of an employee to receive testing, treatment, 21 isolation, or quarantine. Such protocol shall not involve any action 22 that would violate any existing federal, state, or local law, including 23 regarding sick leave or health information privacy. 24 f. A protocol for documenting [precise] hours and work locations, 25 including off-site visits, for essential employees [and contractors]. 26 Such protocol shall be designed only to aid in tracking of the disease 27 and to identify the population of exposed employees [and contractors] in 28 order to facilitate the provision of any benefits which may be available 29 to certain employees [and contractors] on that basis. 30 g. A protocol for how the public employer will work with such employ- 31 er's locality to identify sites for emergency housing for essential 32 employees in order to further contain the spread of the communicable 33 disease that is the subject of the declared emergency, to the extent 34 applicable to the needs of the workplace. 35 h. Any other requirements determined by the department of health such 36 as contract tracing or testing, social distancing, hand hygiene and 37 disinfectant, or mask wearing. 38 4. Once drafted, each public employer shall present the plan described 39 in this section to all applicable duly recognized or certified represen- 40 tatives of the employer's employees, who shall then be granted an oppor- 41 tunity to review the plan and make recommendations, if any, provided 42 that nothing shall preclude such representatives from making such recom- 43 mendations prior to the draft being completed. The employer must consid- 44 er and respond to such recommendations in writing within a reasonable 45 timeframe. A copy of the final version of such plan shall then be 46 published in a clear and conspicuous location, and in the employee hand- 47 book, to the extent that the employer provides such handbook to its 48 employees, and in a location accessible on either the employer's website 49 or on the internet accessible by employees. No employer shall take 50 retaliatory action or otherwise discriminate against any employee for 51 making [suggestions or] recommendations regarding the content of the 52 plan. 53 5. The department shall establish procedures to allow for public 54 employees [or contract workers] to contact and inform the department of 55 any alleged [or believed] violations of any of the provisions described 56 in this section.A. 980 4 1 6. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to impede, infringe, dimin- 2 ish or impair the rights of a public employee or employer under any law, 3 rule, regulation or collectively negotiated agreement, or the rights and 4 benefits which accrue to employees through collective bargaining agree- 5 ments, or otherwise diminish the integrity of the existing collective 6 bargaining relationship. 7 § 2. Subdivision 6-a of section 27-a of the labor law, as added by 8 section 2 of a chapter of the laws of 2020, amending the labor law 9 relating to requiring public employers to adopt a plan for operations in 10 the event of a declared public health emergency involving a communicable 11 disease; and amending the education law relating to certain protocols 12 for responding to a declared public health emergency involving a commu- 13 nicable disease, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8617B and 14 A. 10832, is amended to read as follows: 15 6-a. Form of complaints. The department shall establish a dedicated 16 webpage [and hotline] through which any public employee under the juris- 17 diction of this section [or contractor as defined by the chapter which18added this subdivision] may report alleged or believed violations of any 19 state law, regulation, rule or guidance related to occupational health 20 and safety involving a communicable disease, including but not limited 21 to the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Such webpage [and hotline] shall 22 allow individuals to report alleged or believed violations anonymously. 23 § 3. Paragraphs l and m of subdivision 2 of section 2801-a of the 24 education law, as amended by section 3 of a chapter of the laws of 2020, 25 amending the labor law relating to requiring public employers to adopt a 26 plan for operations in the event of a declared public health emergency 27 involving a communicable disease; and amending the education law relat- 28 ing to certain protocols for responding to a declared public health 29 emergency involving a communicable disease, as proposed in legislative 30 bills numbers S. 8617B and A. 10832, is amended to read as follows: 31 l. the designation of the superintendent, or superintendent's desig- 32 nee, as the district chief emergency officer responsible for coordinat- 33 ing communication between school staff and law enforcement and first 34 responders, and ensuring staff understanding of the district-level safe- 35 ty plan. The chief emergency officer shall also be responsible for 36 ensuring the completion and yearly updating of building-level emergency 37 response plans; [or] and 38 m. protocols for responding to a declared [public health] state disas- 39 ter emergency involving a communicable disease that are substantially 40 consistent with the provisions of section twenty-seven-c of the labor 41 law. 42 § 4. Section 4 of a chapter of the laws of 2020, amending the labor 43 law relating to requiring public employers to adopt a plan for oper- 44 ations in the event of a declared public health emergency involving a 45 communicable disease; and amending the education law relating to certain 46 protocols for responding to a declared public health emergency involving 47 a communicable disease, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 48 8617B and A. 10832, is amended to read as follows: 49 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however that 50 [the] a draft operation [plans in the event of certain declared public51health emergencies] plan established pursuant to section 27-c of the 52 labor law shall be [finalized and] published, and provided for comments 53 to the applicable duly recognized or certified representatives of the 54 employer's employees and to the relevant labor-management committees not 55 later than 150 days from the effective date of this act; and provided 56 further the [hotline and] webpage established pursuant to section 27-aA. 980 5 1 of the labor law shall be functional, [and] the protocols for responding 2 to a declared [public health] state disaster emergency involving a 3 communicable disease pursuant to paragraph m of subdivision 2 of section 4 2801-a of the education law shall be established and functional [within530 days of the effective date of this act], and the operation plan shall 6 be finalized by April 1, 2021. 7 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
