March 27, 2020 – New York State has updated guidance regarding essential businesses or entities which are exempt from the 100% Work From Home Rule. Most notably, there are changes to the Construction section of the guidance which establish new guidelines for essential vs. non-essential construction, safety measures which must be taken and exemptions for single worker activity. Here is the new language:

Construction 

All non-essential construction must shut down except emergency construction, (e.g. a project necessary to protect the health and safety of the occupants or to continue a project if it would be unsafe to allow to remain undone until it is safe to shut the site).

Essential construction may continue and includes roads, bridges, transit facilities, utilities, hospitals or health care facilities, affordable housing, and homeless shelters. At every site, if essential or emergency non-essential construction, this includes maintaining social distance, including for purposes of elevators/meals/entry and exit. Sites that cannot maintain distance and safety best practices must close and enforcement will be provided by the state in coordination with the city/local governments. This will include fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

For purposes of this section, construction work does not include a single worker, who is the sole employee/worker on a job site.

The link to the Essential Business Guidelines can be found here: https://esd.ny.gov/guidance-executive-order-2026

Please contact Davidoff Hutcher & Citron here if you have any questions. We hope you are all safe and healthy.