The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) has released long-awaited proposed rules for the New York Health and Essential Rights Act (also known as the HERO Act) addressing joint labor-management workplace safety committees comprised of employer and employee designees.

As noted in our prior alert, the NYSDOL already issued regulations related to Section 1 of the HERO Act, which requires that New York employers adopt an airborne infectious disease prevention plan. The plans must be implemented when the New York State Commissioner of Health designates a disease as a highly contagious infectious disease.¹

Section 2 of the HERO Act gives employees the right to be involved in making and reviewing safety procedures and compliance through a joint-labor management workplace safety committee.

Covered Employers
Section 2 of the HERO Act provides that employers with 10 or more employees located in New York State must allow employees to “establish and administer” a safety committee for each worksite. To determine whether an employer has 10 employees, the employer should count paid and unpaid New York employees and employees on leave who are expected to return. For this purpose, employees include part-time, newly hired, temporary, and seasonal employees and employees who are jointly employed by more than one employer shall be counted by each employer, whether or not they are on the employer’s payroll records.

Employee’s Right to Create a Workplace Safety Committee
There is no...

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