As we previously reported, on March 18, 2020, effective immediately, all New York employers must provide sick leave for any employee (with limited exceptions) “who is subject to a mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation issued by New York, the Department of Health, local board of health, or any government entity duly authorized to issue such order due to COVID-19.”
New York’s Short-Term Disability and Paid Family Leave have also been expanded to provide these leave benefits for employee absences due to COVID-19 related quarantine/isolation.
Governor Cuomo’s “New York State on PAUSE” Executive Order 202.6 of Friday, March 20, 2020, also known as the “Stay-At-Home” Executive Order (the “Executive Order”), required all non-essential businesses to close by 8 p.m. beginning on March 22, 2020, and for all of their employees to stay home and work remotely if possible.
Since the COVID-19 Paid Leave Law extended disability and paid family leave benefits to employees under quarantine or isolation required by the State; and since the Executive Order required all non-essential workers to stay home; it was initially interpreted that all employees subject to this Executive Order would be entitled to this Leave.
However, the New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) has now issued a “correction” that the expansion of disability and paid family leave under the COVID-19 Paid Leave Law, does not apply to all employees who have been ordered to stay home under the Executive Order; even though it is clearly a state order of quarantine or isolation for all workers to “stay home,” except for workers in essential businesses. NYDOL now corrects its prior announcement and says that these benefits only apply to employees who have an individualized order of quarantine or isolation.
We expect this is not the first roll-back “correction” or interpretation” we are going to see as the government calculates the cost of providing these benefits under this and other emergency statutes.