The New York HERO Act requires Suffolk County employers to adopt airborne infectious disease prevention plans and permits joint labor-management workplace safety committees, providing a statewide framework that overlays scheduling and workplace policies.
Enacted in 2021, the NY HERO Act amended Labor Law Sections 218-b and 27-d to require all private employers to maintain a written airborne infectious disease exposure prevention plan, activated when the state health commissioner designates an outbreak. Employers with ten or more workers must allow employees to form workplace safety committees that meet quarterly and review policies. The Act applies uniformly statewide including Suffolk County, preempting most local scheduling-related health rules. Retaliation against workers who raise safety concerns or serve on committees is prohibited.
Employers without a compliant prevention plan or who block safety committees face NY Department of Labor fines starting at $50 per day plus per-violation penalties.
See how Huntington's worker scheduling preemption rules stack up against other locations.
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