Sick-leave bill passes in Capitol

ALBANY — Legislators, a handful at a time, passed an emergency paid sick leave bill on Wednesday covering workers impacted by coronavirus quarantines.

With cases of the quickly spreading respiratory illness rapidly rising in the state — and two of their own absent after contracting the virus — lawmakers practiced social distancing by voting in nearly empty chambers and approving a measure granting job protections and benefits to those hardest hit by the disease.

“Workers should not be penalized if they receive a quarantine or isolation order,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said from the floor of the eerily empty Senate chamber.

The measure will “ensure every New York employee will be able to continue to receive paychecks, without having to charge their available time if they need to undergo a quarantine or isolation,” StewartCousins added.

Under the bill, pushed in recent weeks by Gov. Cuomo, companies with more than 100 employees must provide workers at least two weeks of paid sick should they be quarantined due to COVID-19.

Public employers, such as schools and local governments must do the same.

Smaller companies with fewer than 100 workers must provide at least five days of paid sick leave and unpaid leave until the end of an isolation period, according to legislation.

Advocates applauded the measure, but lamented the fact that freelancers and independent contractors won’t benefit from the protections.

“Governor Cuomo and the legislature should also address the critical situation of independent contractors, small businesses, and immigrant workers who have had their incomes cut off or who are running the great personal risks, taking care of the delivery, food, health care and transportation needs of the rest of us in this terrifying time,” Deborah Axt, Make the Road New York’s co-executive director, said in a statement.