STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2569

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 26, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. ROZIC, SEAWRIGHT, HEVESI, REYES, L. ROSENTHAL,
          EPSTEIN, THIELE, J. M. GIGLIO, McDONOUGH, CRUZ, SIMON, LUNSFORD, OTIS,
          WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor

        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-e  to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 196-e. 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-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06756-01-3

        A. 2569                             2

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