NY A10842

Requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees whose children's daycare, before/after-care programs, or schools closed, changed schedules, or reduced hours due to a pandemic like COVID-19 when replacement services are unavailable after reasonable efforts.

Requires accommodations when a child's caregiver has an underlying COVID-19 risk condition (chronic pulmonary, lung, liver, or kidney disease; moderate-to-severe asthma; diabetes; hemoglobin disorders; serious heart conditions; severe obesity; immunocompromised status; or physician-certified substantially similar conditions) and is unwilling to provide services, or when the employee themselves has such a condition.

Specifies accommodations shall include flexible work hours, part-time or modified schedules, altered work function timing, telecommuting, working from home, policy changes, and employer-provided childcare complying with CDC guidelines and county health department approval.

Exempts employers from accommodations that create undue hardship and requires an interactive process between employer and employee to determine appropriate accommodations.

Allows prevailing plaintiffs to recover attorneys' fees, expert witness fees, costs, and disbursements in enforcement actions before the Division of Human Rights or court, with effect immediately upon enactment.