Governor Cuomo

Subscribe to Governor Cuomo

New York is doing away with its quarantine requirement for out-of-state travelers.

By way of background, in June 2020, New York issued a COVID-19 Travel Advisory requiring certain travelers to quarantine upon entry to New York. In November 2020, New York modified its travel advisory to permit out-of-state travelers to test out of its mandatory quarantine. In a surprising move, however, on March 11, 2021, Governor Cuomo’s office issued a press release stating that domestic travelers will no longer be required to quarantine upon entry to New York from another state or U.S. territory.Continue Reading New York eliminates quarantine for domestic travel effective April 1

Airport workers at John F. Kennedy (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), and New York Stewart International Airport (SWF-Stewart Intl.) may soon be receiving increased wages and benefits under the Healthy Terminals Act (the “Act”) (Senate Bill S6266D).  Spurred by the COVID-19 related death of a JFK airport worker, the Act recently passed both the New York State Senate and Assembly.  Next, the Act will be delivered to Governor Cuomo for his signature.  Governor Cuomo has not indicated whether or not he will sign the Act.  If signed, the Act will take effect on January 1, 2021.

Scope of covered individuals

The Act has a broad (and ambiguous) scope of coverage.  The Act defines covered airport workers as any worker employed by a covered airport employer that works at least half of the workweek at a covered airport location.  The Act exempts individuals who qualify for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) or are covered under Articles 8 and 8-a of New York Labor Law, which applies to construction workers on New York City’s public work and grade crossing elimination projects.

Covered airport employers are defined as any entity employing a covered airport worker (other than public agencies) and covered airport locations include any airport operating under the jurisdiction of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which currently encompasses JFK, LGA, and SWF-Stewart Intl.  The Act does not exclude air carriers and appears to cover not only air carriers, but also ground handling companies providing ramp, catering, and other support services.Continue Reading New York’s healthy terminals act may create additional wage and benefits obligations for airport employers

The Empire State recently announced strict measures to protect against the spread of COVID-19 by individuals returning to New York from states experiencing a spike in cases.  Specifically, on June 24 Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 205 (EO 205), which requires individuals returning to New York from a state that meets either of the following conditions to quarantine for a period of 14 days:

  • a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or
  • higher than a 10 percent test positivity rate over a seven day rolling average.

This new order comes in the wake of a recent upsurge in cases around the country and currently covers travelers returning from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, and Texas.  However, it is expected that this list will continue to grow, as more states see an uptick of new cases.  Any violation of a required quarantine may be deemed a violation of EO 205, resulting in a civil penalty of up to $10,000.
Continue Reading New York state further restricts eligibility for its paid quarantine leave

Today is the last in a five-part blog series on New York’s sweeping changes to the legal landscape for Empire State employers. In prior posts, we covered limitations on the use of nondisclosure provisions in settlement and separation agreements, the new standards for litigating and defending harassment claims, expanded equal pay protections, and the statewide ban on salary history inquiries. Today, we will explore the remaining changes to the state’s anti-discrimination laws. All of the changes discussed in this article will take effect 60 days after Governor Cuomo signs the Bill, unless otherwise noted:

Expanding Protections to More Employers and More Workers

All New York employers will now be subject to the state’s anti-discrimination law, regardless of size. Under the prior incarnation of the law, employers with fewer than four employees were excluded from coverage (except for sexual harassment claims). Now, every single employee and employer in New York will be covered by these protections. This change will take place 180 days after enactment.

In addition, non-employees – such as independent contractors, vendors, and consultants (and their employees) – will now be entitled to the protections afforded by the state’s anti-discrimination law. This expands on a 2018 law that afforded such protections to non-employees asserting claims of sexual harassment. In addition, the law will also now protect domestic workers from all forms of harassment.Continue Reading New York Lawmakers Upend the Employment Law Landscape…Again (Part 5)