CHANGES TO NEW YORK STATE COVID-19 LEAVE   The New York State Department of Labor recently announced changes to New York State’s COVID-19 Paid Sick leave Laws. The guidance limits the number of times an employee is eligible to receive paid leave to quarantine or isolate as a result of COVID-19 infection or exposure to [...]

POTENTIAL CHANGES TO HOME CARE WORKER COMPENSATION   As part of a plan to reduce the shortage of home care workers in New York, the State lawmakers introduced the Fair Pay for Home Care Act (Senate Bill S5374A / Assembly Bill A6329A).  The Act, which is currently in committee in both houses of the legislature, [...]

The New York State Department of Labor recently announced changes to New York State’s COVID-19 Paid Sick leave Laws. The guidance limits the number of times an employee is eligible to receive paid leave to quarantine or isolate as a result of COVID-19 infection or exposure to three instances of leave. The first instance of [...]

 NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR IMPLENENTS NEW RULES REGARDING PAID SICK LEAVE AND PROPOSES CHANGES TO HERO ACT 12.22.2021 Changes to Paid Sick Leave On December 22, 2021, the New York State Department of Labor (“DOL”) implemented issued final regulations with clarifications about the New York State Paid Sick Leave Act (“PSLA”). The DOL clarified that [...]

To say that most businesses were not prepared for the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic would be quite an understatement. Although several Asian countries had lived through and learned from the SARS and swine flu outbreaks, nobody was really prepared for what 2020 had in store. U.S. citizens hadn’t lived through anything remotely similar since the 1918 [...]

While New York State is in the process of lifting many COVID-19 related restrictions, the commercial eviction moratorium related to COVID-19 hardship is in effect through August 31, 2021 Protections for certain commercial lease guarantors, however, expired on June 30, 2021 These protections were initially put in place by the New York City Council under [...]

United States Department of Labor Retracts Clarification on Independent Contract Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act On January 6, 2021, the United State Department of Labor issued a clarification and “final rule,” which clarifies the difference between an independent contractor or an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This rule has taken [...]

To say that most businesses were not prepared for the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic would be quite an understatement. Although several Asian countries had lived through and learned from the SARS and swine flu outbreaks, nobody was really prepared for what 2020 had in store. U.S. citizens hadn’t lived through anything remotely similar since the 1918 [...]

The global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is going into its second year now, and millions of small and large businesses are feeling the squeeze. Some had no choice but to furlough or lay off millions of employees or shut down operations indefinitely. In fact, 9 million U.S. small businesses may shut down this year if stimulus [...]

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, partially expired as of December 31, 2020. The Act required employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide employees with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons directly related to COVID-19. As of [...]