New York State To Set Standards For Workplace Airborne Diseases

The COVID-19 pandemic caused everyone all over the world to consider most aspects of our lives. We must all consider how we are going to live our daily lives both personally and professionally in what we hope are the final stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The State of New York is now looking towards the future and lawmakers are working to set standards for workplace safety and airborne diseases.

New rules are being drafted by State regulators that will hopefully require employers to set standards to protect employees against airborne infectious diseases.

Last week Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that would require state labor and health officials to come up with minimum work standards when it comes to personal protective equipment, social distancing, and quarantine requirements.

Although the safety standards have not been written out yet, when they are put into place employers in New York will have to come up with safety plans that will comply with the new standards. Noncompliance could mean that workers could sue their employers for $20,000 for injuries that were caused due to the company's noncompliance.

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As we have seen with COVID-19, small businesses were extraordinarily impacted by the pandemic. The new law will certainly be more difficult for small businesses to comply than it will be for larger businesses and business chains. Governor Cuomo has been clear that this is not the intent of the new law. He has indicated that the law can be tweaked through amendments to limit lawsuits to those businesses that fail to correct violations.