NY HERO Act Update – Workplace Safety Committees
New York’s Health and Essential Rights Act (HERO Act) is still relevant despite the cessation of the designation of COVID-19 as an airborne infectious disease, which required implementation of airborne infectious disease exposure prevention plans. As a reminder, employers must distribute prevention plans to employees, post (and now have available electronically) them in a prominent location at the worksite and include them in employee handbooks.
The other key provision of the HERO Act gives employees the right to create workplace safety committees. Evidently identifying a need to codify a proposed DOL regulation, the legislature passed a bill requiring employers to recognize a workplace safety committee within five business days of its establishment. Failure to do so will result in penalties of $50 a day until the violation is remedied. This amendment went into effect December 28, 2022.