Effectively Managing NYS Employee COVID-19-Restricted-State Travel and PTO Requests

NYS’s COVID-19 Restricted-State Travel Advisory and accompanying mandatory quarantine requirement took effect June 24, 2020, and the guidelines are straightforward:

Governor Cuomo has issued Executive Order 205, requiring the New York State Commissioner of Health Dr. Howard Zucker to issue a travel advisory requiring all travelers coming from states with significant rates of transmission of COVID-19 (hereinafter “designated states”) to quarantine for a 14-day period from the time of their last contact within such designated state(s). 

At this writing, there are 31 COVID-19 restricted states on the list (which is continually updated), found at this link: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-travel-advisory.

All out-of-state travelers from designated states must complete the form upon entering New York. Travelers who leave the airport without completing the form will be subject to a $2,000 fine and may be brought to a hearing and ordered to complete mandatory quarantine. Travelers coming to New York from designated states through other means of transport, including trains and cars, must fill out the form online. 

A few tips on effectively managing NYS employee COVID-19-Restricted-State Travel and Paid Time Off (PTO):

• Consider adding this question to your daily COVID-19 employee pre-entry questionnaire:
  • In the past 14 days, have you traveled from a state on NYS’s COVID-19-Restricted-Travel list?

(If you need a daily COVID-19 pre-entry questionnaire, please contact me at Deb@DebBest.com and I’ll email you one. By the way: after you record a completed questionnaire as suitable [or unsuitable] for workplace entry, securely discard / shred it to avoid collecting unnecessary employee Protected Health Information [PHI].)

• Consider adding these questions to your PTO (Paid Time Off) request forms:
  • Do you plan on traveling to a state on NYS’s COVID-19-Restricted-Travel list?
  • If so: are you able to work remotely during the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon your return?
  • If so: please be prepared to take a COVID-19 test after your 14-day quarantine and before you can enter our building(s).

In other words: if an employee plans to travel to a NYS COVID-19-Restricted State, they’re potentially adding at least 2 more weeks out of work on top of their PTO request if they’re not able to work remotely during their quarantine. Employers do have the right to deny PTO requests, especially when sufficient staffing coverage is required to keep the business going; if the employee has not given sufficient notice to use PTO; if there’s a business-driven PTO blackout period where PTO cannot be used; or the amount of PTO requested exceeds the amount of PTO that employees can use for each request.

These statements below (and above) are always helpful to include in your PTO policy:

• (Insert Employer’s Name) reserves the right to deny any PTO request to ensure required staffing and related business needs.
• PTO requests must be submitted at least x weeks in advance.
• Employees are advised not to make nonrefundable reservations and/or purchase nonrefundable tickets until their PTO request is approved.

How are you effectively managing NYS employee COVID-19-restricted-state travel and paid time off requests, in business and at work?