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New York has adopted legislation that requires New York employers to provide special paid leave pursuant to COVID-19-related absences. The New York State Workers' Compensation Board published guidance for employers to its website. Following is an overview of the requirements.

New York's COVID-19 paid-leave requirement provides job-protected paid leave to employees who are subject to an order of mandatory or precautionary quarantine or isolation for COVID-19 issued by the state of New York, the Department of Health, local board of health, or any government entity duly authorized to issue such order, or whose minor dependent child is under such an order.

These paid-leave benefits are not available to employees who work through remote access or through other means.

The paid-leave requirements depend on the employee's circumstances as follows.

Employee's own quarantine/isolation

Paid leave is available to employees subject to an order of mandatory or precautionary quarantine or isolation, depending on the size of the employer's business, as of January 1, 2020; public employers must provide paid leave regardless of their size, as detailed below.

• Small businesses that had 10 or fewer employees as of January 1, 2020, and a net annual income less than $1 million last year must provide their employees with:
• Job protection for the duration of the order of quarantine or isolation
• Access to benefits through the employer's paid family leave and disability benefits policy for the duration of the order of quarantine or isolation
• Medium businesses with 11-99 employees as of January 1, 2020, and smaller employers (1-10 employees) that had a net annual income greater than $1 million last year must provide their employees with:
• Job protection for the duration of the order of quarantine or isolation
• At least five days of paid sick leave
• Access to benefits through the employer's paid family leave and disability benefits policy
• Large businesses with 100 or more employees as of January 1, 2020 must provide their employees with:
• Job protection for the duration of the order of quarantine or isolation
• At least 14 days of paid sick leave
• Public employers (no matter how many employees) must provide their employees with:
• Job protection for the duration of the order of quarantine or isolation
• At least 14 days of paid sick leave

Quarantine/isolation of an employee's minor dependent child

Most employees with a minor dependent child who is under an order of mandatory or precautionary quarantine or isolation issued by the state of New York, the Department of Health, local board of health, or any government entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19, may be eligible to take paid family leave to care for them. Eligibility for covered employees is the same as it is for other paid family leave.

Employer Responsibilities

Employer responsibilities for COVID-19 quarantine leave provided through paid family leave and disability benefits is largely the same as it has been for New York Paid Family Leave overall; however, there are new COVID-19-specific forms and attestations.

• COVID-19 request process. If employees notify the employer of their intent to request leave, they need to have the appropriate form package as follows:
• Request for COVID-19 Quarantine DB/PFL - Self (Forms PFL-1 & SCOVID19)
• Request for COVID-19 Quarantine PFL - Child (Forms PFL-1 & CCOVID19)

Each of these request packages has two forms with sections to be completed by the employee and the employer. Employees complete their portion of each form, keep a copy, and submit the package to the employer.

The employer must provide the following information:

• A computation of the employee's average weekly wage (AWW), calculated by adding his or her wages for the eight weeks prior to the start of paid family leave and dividing the total by eight; for a sole proprietor who has opted into paid family leave, the average weekly wage will be the last 52 weeks of income divided by 52
• An attestation that the employee has used any quarantine paid sick time and is not able to work remotely

The employer must keep a copy of the completed request package for the employer's records and return the completed package to the employee within three business days. If the employer fails to return the forms within three business days, the employee can proceed without the employer's information.

Employees are responsible for submitting their completed request package directly to the employers' disability/paid family leave insurance carrier within 30 days of their first day of leave. Employees may ask the employer for the name and contact information of its insurance carrier. Employees may also access this information by calling the Paid Family Leave Helpline at +1 844 337 6303.

The insurance carrier must pay or deny the employee's request within 18 calendar days of receiving the completed request.

• Provide other protections: Employers are responsible for providing important employee protections.
• Job protection: Employers must reinstate the employee to the same or a comparable position, upon returning from leave.
• No discrimination. Employers cannot discriminate or retaliate against an employee for requesting or taking paid family leave.
• Continued health insurance: Employers must continue to provide health insurance on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work while they were on paid family leave. If employees regularly contribute to the cost of their health insurance, they must continue to pay their portion of the cost while on leave.

Additional resources

New Paid Leave for COVID-19

Request for COVID-19 Quarantine DB/PFL - Self (Forms PFL-1 & SCOVID19)

Request for COVID-19 Quarantine PFL - Child (Forms PFL-1 & CCOVID19)

Frequently Asked Questions

ny.gov/coronavirus

ny.gov/COVIDpaidsickleave

New York paid family leave helpline: +1 844 337 6303

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