New York State is the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, and public officials, government employees, unions, workers' centers, and community organizations are doing everything they can to protect New Yorkers--to protect our communities. Frontline workers are the selfless heroes of this pandemic, putting themselves and their families at risk as they fight to protect us all.

New York's workers need vital protections to ensure that if they contract COVID-19 at work, they are protected. As much of New York has come to a grinding halt, these essential workers--nurses and doctors, transit workers and janitors, airport workers and grocery store clerks--are at the front lines. But as we know, many of these workers do not have access to personal protective equipment, and are being exposed day in and day out to people who may or may not be symptomatic. 

For workers who contract COVID-19 on the job, we need to protect them against insurance companies who will stop at nothing to deny valid claims--and we need to acknowledge that the lack of personal protective equipment and the lack of available tests have made it even more difficult to know when someone has COVID-19 or when you are exposed. Preliminary guidance from the NYS Workers' Compensation Board would require workers to go through leaps and bounds to prove that they contracted COVID-19 at work. Instead, we need to show workers that if they get sick, they will be protected by New York State, and they will be taken care of.

New York's workers are counting on you.

Thank you,