BIAGGI, GAUGHRAN, HOYLMAN, KAMINSKY, KENNEDY, LIU, MAY, MAYER, RIVERA
MLTSPNSR
Amd §593, Lab L
Permits unemployment benefits in the case of voluntary separation from employment during the COVID-19 emergency for persons over age 65 or persons with health conditions which make them at risk where the claimant has a reasonable belief that their working environment is unsafe.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1071
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. GOUNARDES, BIAGGI, GAUGHRAN, HOYLMAN, KAMINSKY,
KENNEDY, LIU, MAY, MAYER, RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to permitting unemployment
benefits in the case of certain voluntary separation from employment
during the COVID-19 emergency; and providing for the repeal of such
provisions upon the expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 593 of the labor law is amended by
2 adding two new paragraphs (d) and (e) to read as follows:
3 (d) (i) A claimant shall not be disqualified from receiving benefits
4 for separation from employment where the claimant has voluntarily sepa-
5 rated from employment due to the reasonable belief that his or her work
6 conditions are unsafe based on the claimant's reasonable belief that
7 such conditions are inconsistent with laws, rules, protocols, policies,
8 orders, or guidance of any federal, state, or local governmental agency
9 intended to keep his or her work environment safe for workers and
10 consumers from potential exposure to or infection from the novel corona-
11 virus of 2019.
12 (ii) In determining whether the claimant reasonably believed his or
13 her work conditions were unsafe, the department shall review factors
14 including but not limited to (1) whether the claimant is sixty-five
15 years of age or older; (2) whether the claimant has an underlying health
16 condition that puts such claimant especially at-risk for severe illness
17 from COVID-19 including, but not limited to chronic pulmonary, lung,
18 liver, or kidney disease, moderate-to-severe asthma, diabetes, hemoglo-
19 bin disorders, serious heart conditions, severe obesity, or the claimant
20 is immunocompromised; (3) whether such claimant lives with a family
21 member who is sixty-five years of age or older or who has an underlying
22 condition that puts them at-risk for severe illness due to COVID-19; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03209-01-1
S. 1071 2
1 (4) whether employment under such conditions would result in potential
2 exposure to COVID-19 of workers or consumers, including but not limited
3 to improper adherence to or lack of protocols or policies regarding
4 social distancing or whether or not personal protective equipment has
5 been or will be provided.
6 (e) A claimant who loses employment because they did not report to
7 work or left work before the end of their scheduled shift or refused to
8 perform an assigned task due to the reasonable belief that the claim-
9 ant's work conditions are unsafe based on a reasonable belief that such
10 conditions are inconsistent with laws, rules, protocols, policies,
11 orders, or guidance of any federal, state, or local governmental agency
12 intended to keep his or her work environment safe for workers and
13 consumers from potential exposure to or infection from the novel corona-
14 virus of 2019 shall be deemed to have voluntarily separated from employ-
15 ment pursuant to paragraph (d) of this subdivision.
16 § 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 2 of section 593 of the labor law,
17 as amended by chapter 35 of the laws of 2009, is amended and a new para-
18 graph (f) is added to read as follows:
19 (e) the claimant is seeking part-time work as provided in subdivision
20 five of section five hundred ninety-six of this title and the offer of
21 employment is not comparable to his or her part-time work as defined in
22 such subdivision[.]; or
23 (f) the offer is to work under conditions that the claimant has a
24 reasonable belief are unsafe based on the claimant's reasonable belief
25 that such conditions are inconsistent with laws, rules, protocols, poli-
26 cies, orders or guidance of any governmental agency on suitable working
27 conditions intended to keep the work environment safe for workers and
28 consumers from potential exposure to or infection from the novel corona-
29 virus of 2019.
30 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
31 deemed repealed one year after such effective date.
