On Dec. 22, the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) published long-awaited proposed regulations relating to the second half of the NY HERO Act relating to workplace safety committees.
By way of brief background, on May 5, 2021 the state signed the NY HERO Act into law. The NY HERO Act added two new sections to the New York Labor Law: (1) New York Labor Law Section 218-b, regarding occupational exposure to airborne infectious disease, which created certain obligations for private employers and protections for employees, including the requirement to adopt an “airborne disease exposure prevention plan”; and (2) New York Labor Law Section 27-d, dealing with employee rights to form workplace safety committees. The first part of the NY HERO Act (NYLL 218-b) went into effect on July 4, 2021. The second part of the NY HERO Act (NYLL 27-d) went into effect on Nov. 1, 2021.
The proposed regulations reaffirm much of what was already understood or suspected from the plain letter of the law. However, the regulations also include additional clarifications and definitions with respect to some of the logistics of the formation, composition and rights of the workplace safety committees.
Coverage and Applicability
The law was clear that the provisions of NYLL 27-d only apply to private employers with 10 or more employees. The proposed regulations clarify that for purposes of coverage, the number of employees is determined by only counting the total number of employees employed by...
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