BILL NUMBER: S4971

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to hazard duty pay
for essential work performed in accordance with a state emergency disas-
ter declaration

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the Civil Service Law to provide for the payment of
hazard pay to essential workers charged with the pandemic response
during a declared state of emergency.

Section 2 states that this act shall take effect immediately and shall
be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after March 1,
2020.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In April 2020, during the height of the first wave of the COVID-19
              

pandemic, the Governor called for the payment of hazard pay for the
state's essential workers - those charged with ensuring the continued
operation of critical government services to provide for the welfare,
health, and safety of all New Yorkers.

Since that time, many private hospitals, other health care facilities
and businesses have taken action to provide hazard pay and provide other
benefits like additional vacation time to their essential staff. Unfor-
tunately, the state has not yet taken any action to recognize and reward
its essential employees who sacrificed everything to help New Yorkers
adapt and survive the first round of COVID-19.

The state's frontline, essential workers include doctors, nurses and
other healthcare professionals at New York's understaffed public hospi-
tals; the state correctional facility staff and parole officers working
to keep inmates and parolees secure and communities safe; the workers at
the state-operated residential facilities providing continuing care and
treatment to our most vulnerable citizens; the staff at the department
of labor, the state insurance fund, workers' compensation board, and the
office of the State Comptroller all struggling to help New Yorkers
access unemployment, disability, and workers' compensation benefits; the
staff at the Department of Health who are testing people for the virus
and working to secure PPE and effective treatments; and the essential
staff at all of the agencies that have been involved in supporting the
various state's response efforts.

Many of these workers contracted the virus in the performance of their
duties, in some instances, because of the lack of proper personal
protective equipment (PPE). These members literally put their lives on
the line to continue to perform their jobs at a time when many workers
were ordered to stay home: This legislation would establish a long over-
due hazard pay program as well as provide two weeks of additional vaca-
tion time for essential public employees so that these employees can
prepare themselves and their families for the likely resurgence of
COVID-19 this fall if not earlier.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022: S496 - Referred to Civil Service and Pensions

2021: S496 - Referred to Civil Service and Pensions

2020: S8839 - Referred to Rules

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This Act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to have been
in effect on and after March 1, 2020.