5-Step Plan to Reopen Your Long Island Business

Beyond injuring others and being a terrible person, have you looked-up the exposure for violating Executive Order 202.8.

To remind you, 202.8 is what provides, in pertinent part, that "[e]ach employer shall reduce the in-person workforce at any work locations by 100% no later than March 22 at 8 p.m."

As to exposure for violating 202.8, it provides that "[a]ny business violating the above order shall be subject to enforcement as if this were a violation of an order pursuant to section 12 of the Public Health Law." Then, section 12 of the Public Health Law provides for "a civil penalty of not to exceed two thousand dollars for every such violation" for the first violation and a penalty "not to exceed five thousand dollars for a subsequent violation." However, if your violation "results in serious physical harm to any patient or patients, the penalty is "not to exceed ten thousand dollars."

So, if you infect someone, you are getting charged with a $10K penalty per violation.

Oh, by the way, the State can also get an injunction against your continued violations and potentially shut down your business, remote or otherwise, with that injunction.

Don't be crazy and ignore the order. Instead, if you believe you are essential, apply for a designation here.

On August 12. 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation implementing extensive reforms to the New York State Human Rights Law, which dramatically increases protections for victims of discrimination and harassment in the workplace and makes it exceedingly more difficult for employers to defend against such claims.

More discrimination lawsuits are on the horizon in NYC based upon the City's Commission of Human Rights new enforcement guidelines concerning immigration status and national origin.

Landlords, merchants, and employers now face up to $250,000 in fines for using terms and phrases like "illegal alien", "alien", and "speak english" when used in the context meant to demean, humiliate, or offend.

In their press release, the NYC Commission of Human Rights provided hypothetical examples of discriminatory behavior, including:

• Harassing a restaurant patron because of their accent;
• Refusing repairs on a unit occupied by an immigrant family and threatening to call ICE if they complain;
• Paying a lower wage or withholding wages to workers because of their immigration status; and
• Harassing a store customer by telling them to stop speaking their language and demanding they speak English.

*ATTENTION LANDLORDS AND EMPLOYERS* - your teams must be trained in the different forms of discrimination and harassment to avoid fines, lawsuits, and bad publicity.