Late in the evening March 18, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a Paid Sick Leave (PSL) bill that only applies to the COVID-19 time period.
Enacted PSL Bill Summary:
The bill, found here, provides that mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation shall mean issued by the state of New York, the department of health, local board of health, or any governmental entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19.
To address the immediate need of employees affected by COVID-19 who are subject to mandatory or precautionary orders of quarantine or isolation, the new law provides that as of January 1, 2020:
The law requires that in the event of federal action on the coronavirus, employers must apply the plan most generous to employees. As such in most cases, New York State’s new emergency paid sick leave will be more generous for employee’s subject to quarantine or isolation by a public health official or that have a minor child quarantined as described below. In that case, employers should provide benefits provided by that law. In the case of an employee requiring leave to care for a child whose school has closed due to the coronavirus, or other applicable situations, the Federal law would be most generous and would be in effect.