Gov. Cuomo Issues New Executive Order Saying New York Employees Who Voluntarily Travel to High-Risk States after June 25 WILL NOT be Eligible for COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave

Consistent with Governor Cuomo’s recently announced mandated quarantine of all incoming travelers from hotspots around the country, employees will forgo their paid sick leave benefits from New York’s COVID-19 paid sick leave law if they engage in non-essential travel to any state that has a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or higher than a 10 percent test positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average. This provision does not apply if the employee travels for work or at the employer’s request. The provision included in Executive Order 202.45 mirrors the law’s existing provision that makes New Yorkers ineligible for paid sick leave if they travel to any country designated as having a level two or three travel health notice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A portion from Executive Order No. 202.45: Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws Relating to the Disaster Emergency

“”Subdivision 4 of section 1 of chapter 25 of the laws of 2020 is modified to the extent necessary to provide that in addition to any travel to a country for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a level two or three travel health notice, an employee shall not be eligible for paid sick leave benefits or any other paid benefits pursuant to this chapter if such employee voluntarily travels which commences after June 25, 2020  to a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents, or higher than a 10% test positivity rate, over a seven day rolling average, and which the commissioner of the department of health has designated as meeting these conditions as outlined in the advisory issued pursuant to Executive Order 205, and the travel was not taken as part of the employee’s employment or at the direction of the employee’s employer;””