How New Emergency Paid Leave Benefits Apply to Building Service Workers

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the local health department have encouraged workers who are sick to stay home. Benefits such as sick leave and family leave can help employees follow these guidelines during this precarious time. Currently, there are no national standards on paid family or sick leave. The current system is a patchwork of federal, state, local policies along with those that have been negotiated through labor contracts.

This issue has gained importance as efforts are being made to slow the spread of COVID-19. Federally, the president has signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provides emergency short-term paid sick leave and longer-term paid family leave for workers affected by coronavirus. At the state level, Governor Cuomo signed into law emergency paid sick leave legislation requiring, among other things, employers to provide eligible New York employees with job-protected paid and/or unpaid sick leave in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The law also extends New York State paid family leave benefits to certain employees who have been affected by the pandemic.

In addition, the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, the group that represents owners, and the service workers union, SEIU 32BJ, negotiated a memorandum of agreement (MOA) in March to create an emergency support plan designed to create greater flexibility to allow covered building service workers to continue working during the COVID-19 pandemic while also being able to deal with personal and family health issues. Highlights of the agreement include:

• Employees who are laid off/ineligible for health coverage on or after March 6 will be provided with an additional 30 days (for total of 60 days) of coverage.
• If an employee is directed to self-quarantine because of workplace COVID-19 exposure, the employee will be paid two weeks of paid time off without reduction of existing entitlements.
• If an employee self-quarantines for any other reason, the employer may permit the employee to use his or her paid time off (PTO) or statutory paid leave, if available.
• For statutory paid leave, the mandatory paid leave provision applicable to the largest covered employer will apply to all regardless of their individual size.
• In the event that a building needs to reduce staffing, the employer will attempt to offer displaced employees temporary assignments at other locations without regard to seniority, and including possible redeployment of staff from commercial buildings to residential buildings.

We’ll go over how these benefits may apply to a SEIU 32BJ-covered building service employee unable to work due to his or her own treatment, quarantine orders, or family needs. It’s important to note that with the MOA, for statutory paid leave, the mandatory paid leave provision applicable to the largest covered employer will apply to all regardless of their individual size. But for employees not covered under the Realty Advisory Board Contract, the applicable leave laws may be dependent on employer size and income.

Employee’s Own Medical Treatment

If an employee is unable to work because she’s experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and seeking a medical diagnosis, the following applies:

• Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave provides for up to 80 hours of paid leave for full-time employees. Part-time employees are eligible for a number of hours of paid leave that would equal the hours that such employee works, on average, over a two-week period. The Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave pay is no less than the employee’s regular rate of pay (as defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act), up to a maximum of $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate.
• Thereafter, employees may elect to utilize PTO or other statutory paid leave, if available, pursuant to paragraph 3 of the MOA.

Quarantine Orders

Employers or federal, state, and local authorities may prevent an employee from working with a quarantine or isolation order.

Employer-directed quarantine. If an employee is unable to work because you’ve directed her to self-quarantine or self-isolate because of worksite exposure to COVID-19, paragraph 3 of the MOA applies and the employee would have two weeks of paid time off without a reduction of any existing PTO entitlements.

Federal, state, or local quarantine orders. If the employee is subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19, the Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave applies. This allows up to 80 hours of paid leave for full-time employees. Part-time employees are eligible for a number of hours of paid leave that would equal the hours that the employee works, on average, over a two-week period.

The Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave pay is no less than the employee’s regular rate of pay (as defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act), up to a maximum of $511 per day and $5,110 in the aggregate.

In addition, the New York emergency paid sick leave would apply for 14 calendar days. Employees are entitled to the difference between the federal benefit and the state benefit. Leave is paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay during a qualifying quarantine or isolation order period. And thereafter, employees may elect to utilize PTO or other statutory paid leave, if available, pursuant to paragraph 3 of the MOA.

Caring for an individual subject to isolation order or having been advised to self-quarantine. If an employee is caring for an individual who’s subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19, the Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave entitles that employee to receive up to 80 hours of paid leave (for full-time employees). Part-time employees are eligible for a number of hours of paid leave that would equal the hours that the employee works, on average, over a two-week period.

The New York Paid Family Leave covers the employee for the duration of the quarantine or isolation, up to 10 weeks, in the amount of 60 percent of the employee’s average weekly wage, capped at $840.70 per week, to provide care for a minor dependent child who’s subject to mandatory or precautionary quarantine or isolation order by the state, the department of health, a local board of health, or any government entity authorized to issue such an order. Benefits run concurrently (employees are entitled to the difference between the federal benefit and the state benefit).

In this situation, the employee may also elect to utilize PTO or statutory paid leave, if available, pursuant to paragraph 3 of the MOA.

Family Needs

If an employee is unable to work because he’s caring for an individual who’s experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis, he may elect to utilize PTO or other statutory paid leave, if available, pursuant to paragraph 3 of the MOA.

If the employee is caring for a child whose school or place or care closed due to COVID-19 precautions, he can apply the Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave for up to 80 hours of paid leave for full-time employees. Part-time employees are eligible for a number of hours of paid leave that would equal the hours that the employee works, on average, over a two-week period. And the employee may elect to use available paid time off (including vacation, sick, and personal days) pursuant to paragraph 2 of the MOA.

Instead of being closed due to COVID-19 precautions, if the school or place of care closed due to a COVID-related public health emergency declared by a federal, state, or local authority, the Federal Emergency Family Medical Leave Expansion Act also applies. This act allows up to 10 days of unpaid leave during which time the employee may elect to substitute accrued paid leave, including the 80 hours of Federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave described above. After 10 days of unpaid leave, the employer must provide paid leave at two-thirds of employee’s regular rate of pay for the remainder of the public health emergency, up to 12 weeks. The two-thirds payment benefit is capped at $200 per day and $10,000 in the aggregate.