As an update to our prior alert, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this morning during his daily coronavirus briefing that the mandatory workforce reduction for non-essential businesses will be increased from 50 percent to 75 percent. As a reminder, the executive order becomes effective tomorrow evening at 8:00 p.m., and any business not specifically identified as “essential” in the executive order can request an opinion from the Empire State Development Corporation in an effort to be deemed essential (i.e., exempt from the mandatory workforce reduction).
In addition, this confirms that:
- The ESDC is working on guidance regarding which businesses are essential, which will be posted on its website at 5:00 today.
- The guidance will establish a procedure for businesses to submit requests for exemptions to the 75 percent workforce reduction requirement.
- These requests do not need to be submitted before 5:00 p.m. today. However, if businesses wish to submit now or have questions, they should use the ESDC portal.
If you have any questions regarding the content of this alert, please contact Chris Harrigan, partner, at charrigan@barclaydamon.com; Rob Thorpe, counsel, at rthorpe@barclaydamon.com; or another member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Area.