Bill Text: NY A01167 | 2025-2026 | 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: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-2)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-09 - referred to labor [A01167 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A01167-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1167 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 9, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC, CRUZ, EPSTEIN, GIGLIO, HEVESI, LUNSFORD, McDONOUGH, OTIS, REYES, ROSENTHAL, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, 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. LBD03422-01-5A. 1167 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.
