Relates to eligibility for unemployment benefits for certain New York city emergency medical services personnel under quarantine for coronavirus (COVID-19); provides that such employees shall not be deprived of benefit payments by reason of COVID-19 quarantine.
Summary
This bill amends the New York Labor Law to create a specific unemployment-benefit protection for certain New York City emergency medical services personnel who are quarantined because of COVID-19. It applies to EMTs and advanced EMTs employed either by the City of New York or by a hospital within the city, so long as they are responding to emergency calls through the city’s 911 system. Under the bill, these workers would not be denied unemployment benefit payments solely because they are under a mandatory or voluntary quarantine related to coronavirus.
The bill also states that covered claimants would not be required to participate in reemployment services or use vacation time while quarantined. It is designed to ensure that frontline EMS workers do not lose income or benefits when public health quarantine rules prevent them from working. The measure takes effect immediately upon enactment.
Impact
The bill would add a new subdivision to Labor Law section 591, creating an explicit exception for a narrow class of public-safety and hospital-based emergency medical personnel in New York City. In practical terms, it would protect eligible EMTs and advanced EMTs from being disqualified from unemployment benefits during COVID-19 quarantine periods and would prevent agencies from requiring vacation leave or reemployment-service participation during that time. The affected parties are New York City EMS workers, their city or hospital employers, and the state unemployment insurance system administering benefits.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and available context, the measure appears to be broadly supportive of frontline emergency medical workers during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The bill’s purpose is remedial and protective, aiming to preserve income support for workers who may be unable to work because of quarantine requirements. No committee transcript or vote record is available here, so there is no documented opposition or recorded debate to indicate broader legislative sentiment beyond the bill’s pro-worker framing.
Contention
The main policy issue raised by the bill is its narrow scope. It applies only to EMTs and advanced EMTs employed by New York City or hospitals within the city who respond through the 911 system, which could prompt questions about why similar protections are not extended to other essential workers, other health-care employees, or EMS personnel outside New York City. Another possible point of contention is the unemployment-benefit carveout itself, since it treats quarantine as a non-disqualifying condition and relieves claimants from reemployment obligations and vacation-time use. However, no formal objections, amendments, or recorded votes are available in the provided materials.
Amends the definition of infectious diseases to include the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and would include emergency medical technicians eligible for benefits.
Requires the provision of paid family leave and certain other employee benefits when an employee is under a mandatory or precautionary order of medically-necessary quarantine or isolation issued by the department of health.
In Commonwealth services, further providing for assistance to fire companies and EMS companies; and, in grants to fire companies and emergency medical services companies, further providing for definitions, for publication and notice, for award of grants, for consolidation incentive, for publication and notice and for award of grants, repealing provisions relating to COVID-19 Crisis Fire Company and Emergency Medical Services Grant Program, to Emergency Medical Services COVID-19 Recovery Grant Program, to expiration of authority relating to COVID-19 Crisis Fire Company and Emergency Medical Services Grant Program and to expiration of authority relating to Emergency Medical Services COVID-19 Recovery Grant Program and further providing for annual reports.