The NY bill would require the creation of a model for disease prevention

New York's lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday that would require the state insurance commissioner to develop a model to prevent occupational exposure to an airborne infectious disease.

S.B. 1034 would call on the Commissioner to publish in both English and Spanish a model for the prevention of exposure to infectious diseases for all workplaces, which includes sections on employee health checks, personal protective equipment, hand hygiene, cleaning protocols and social distancing. The legislation would also require that the standard be differentiated by industry and include information on quarantines and provisions on retaliation. ] AB 565 would require heads of government departments, including the Employment Compensation Board, to study the effects of teleworking on the state ̵

1; such as reducing contributions to employee compensation premiums – and report their findings and recommendations to the governor and legislator in 18 months.

The bills have been referred to the working committee of each chamber.