Governor Cuomo has ordered all employers limit their staff capacity, requiring 100% of non-essential employees to work from home.
Businesses within essential service industries are exempt from these reductions, including: shipping, media, warehousing, grocery and food production, pharmacies, healthcare providers, utilities, banks and related financial institutions, and other industries critical to the supply chain.
For more clarification on the Governor's directive on essential vs. non-essential businesses, please click here.
Businesses unsure if they are included within in exempt categories but still believe they are providing essential services or functions can request a waiver from these reductions by completing this form.
Further business related questions can be forwarded to Empire State Development by clicking here.
ESD's Frequently Asked Questions link will also be updated as new information comes in: https://esd.ny.gov/esd-covid-19-related-resources
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Assistance
The SBA Administrator has just approved a statewide disaster declaration for NY. Eligible small businesses may now apply for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) online at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.
Businesses can take advantage of free assistance offered by SBA’s network of Resource Partners for help with preparing their loan applications. Please visit www.sba.gov/local-assistance to find local help.
The NYS Small Business Development Center network recommends submitting a request for assistance online at http://nyssbdc.org/appointment.html.
The SBA disaster relief application link is here: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela
Paid Sick and Family Leave
State:
On March 17th, Governor Cuomo signed a bill into law that guarantees paid leave for New Yorkers under mandatory or precautionary quarantine due to COVID-19.
Small sized employers, which includes employers with 10 or fewer employees and that have a net income of less than $1 million, would receive unpaid sick leave and immediately become eligible for Paid Family Leave and Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) benefits.
Medium sized employers, which includes employers with 10 or fewer employees that have a net income of greater than $1 million and employers with between 11 and 99 employees, would receive at least five days of paid sick leave, followed by eligibility for Paid Family Leave and TDI benefits.
Employers with 100 or more employees, as well as all public employees, would receive a minimum of 14 days of paid sick leave.
Federal:
On March 18th, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act into law.
Under the act, certain employers will be required to provide 80 hours (or 2 weeks) of fully paid leave to full-time employees on top of any other existing paid leave program of the employer to cover employees not working due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Unemployement Insurance
Important Information for Unemployment Insurance Claimants from the New York State Department of Labor:
The federal government enacted the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which includes extended unemployment benefits. New York has not qualified for these extended benefits at this time, but we will continue to monitor the situation and leverage all federal resources to help New Yorkers survive the economic hardships associated with the novel coronavirus. If New York State DOES qualify for the extended benefits, New Yorkers do NOT need to do anything new. DOL will post additional information here as it becomes available.
NYS is waiving the 7-Day waiting period for Unemployment Insurance benefits for people who are out of work due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) closures or quarantines.
If you are filing a new unemployment insurance claim, the day you should file is based on the first letter of your last name. If your last name starts with A - F, file your claim on Monday. For last names starting with G - N, file your claim Tuesday. For last names starting with O - Z, file your claim on Wednesday. If you missed your filing day, file your claim on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Filing later in the week will not delay your payments or affect the date of your claim, since all claims are effective on the Monday of the week in which they are filed.
Here is a step by step process to file a claim online.
DOL is extending telephone filing hours as follows:
Monday through Thursday, 8 am to 7:30 pm.
Friday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Saturday, 7:30 am to 8:00 pm.
Relief to Workers under New York State Law
State relief for workers full size version.
Relief to Workers under Federal Law
Federal relief to workers full size version.
Niagara Small Business Development Center
Niagara County Community College,
3111 Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn, NY 14132
(716) 210-2515
http://www.nyssbdc.org/centers/centers.aspx?centid=21
To help existing small businesses handle economic loss associated with reduced sales resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19), financial assistance programs are expected to be released soon from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program offers loans of up to $2 million to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills. The interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses without credit available elsewhere; businesses with credit available elsewhere are not eligible. The interest rate for non-profits is 2.75%.
