In May 2021, Governor Cuomo signed the New York Hero Act, which requires employers to protect employees from airborne infectious disease outbreaks. However, the specifics on compliance with the law, including the model plan described, were only released this month.
The law requires all employers to comply as follows: Adopt an infectious disease exposure prevention plan to protect the employees; allow employees to establish a joint labor-management workplace safety committee; no discrimination against employees who raise issues related to safety from airborne infectious disease outbreaks.
The State Department of Labor has promulgated a model safety plan that is compliant with the law and created 11 industry-specific plans. There is no industry plan for residential management or real estate in general.
A copy of the model plan is attached for your review. The deadline to adopt the plan is August 5, 2021. Basically, you will need a Board vote to adopt the plan by this date and distributed it to the employees by September 4, 2021.
While the plan must be adopted and distributed as described, the plan does not have to be implemented until the state designates an airborne infectious disease that presents a serious risk of harm to public health. When this designation is released by the state, we will send further notice.
Please contact us if you have a question in regards to this or any other legal matter.
