TO ALL BUSINESS OWNERS AND PRINCIPALS:

The NY State Health and Essential Rights Act (aka the NY HERO Act) (A2681-B /S1034-B) requires all employers in New York to implement certain safety standards and adopt a prevention plan to protect against further spread of COVID-19 and other airborne infectious diseases in the workplace.

As of August 5, 2021, employers must have a written plan in place covering their employees and independent contractors.  The next requirement under the law, informing employees of the plan is due in 30 days, by September 4th.  The plan will only be implemented or activated “when an airborne infectious disease is designated by the New York State Commissioner of Health as a highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health.”  

Currently, while employers must adopt plans as required by the law, as of the date of this writing no designation has been made and plans are not required to be in effect.

The state Department of Labor, in consultation with the state Department of Health, has created an airborne infectious disease safety standard, which ultimately will differ between industries and establish minimum requirements on procedures and methods.  In addition, the Department of Labor has established a Model  Airborne Infectious Disease Exposure Prevention Plan, which employers can adapt for their own use.

You can download the standard and the prevention plan here - https://dol.ny.gov/ny-hero-act

The National Law Review has an informative article, here –

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/new-york-state-enacts-hero-act-what-employers-need-to-know