Brooklyn Councilman Lander Supports COVID-19 Relief Program

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — District 39 City Councilman Brad Lander is among those supporting a coronavirus relief legislation package designed to protect city tenants, small business owners and frontline workers as New Yorkers work to combat the ongoing public health crisis.

The legislation will be considered at the city council’s inaugural remote Stated Hearing and council members will consider each of the bills over the next week and a half. Included in the proposed legislation is an essential workers Bill of Rights as well as a bill that would protect residential and small businesses tenants impacted by the coronavirus against landlords seeing the repayment of back rent or threatening eviction.

“Every night, New Yorkers are cheering wildly to thank the people who are stocking shelves in our grocery stores, delivering food and supplies, driving people to work and appointments, and caring for sick New Yorkers in our hospitals and nursing homes,” Lander said in a statement issued Tuesday. “With this legislation, we'll go beyond cheering to make sure they have the pay, sick leave, dignity, and workplace protections they so deeply deserve.”

As part of the proposed legislation, the essential workers Bill of Rights would require employers with more than 100 employees to pay hourly workers $30 for shifts under four hours, $60 for shifts lasting between four and eight hours and $75 for any shift lasting longer than eight hours. The obligation would last when the state of emergency in New York is lifted.

Other parts of the legislation would protect frontline workers against being fired unjustly and will enable them to openly address any concerns over work conditions without the threat of being fired or retaliated against. The council will also consider a bill that would provide extended paid sick leave to gig workers and other essential independent contractors that are not protected under the sick leave bill passed by the New York state legislature.

Tenants who rent in residential buildings or as small business owners and are impacted by coronavirus-related matters would also be afforded protection from landlords deemed to be bad actors. The legislation would prevent city sheriffs and marshals from threatening tenants who are behind on rent payments with eviction.

The measure for renters has drawn praise from community leaders seeking to protect the population of renters who have struggled financially because of the pandemic as well as the city’s homeless population, which is considered especially vulnerable during this time.

“The devastation of the coronavirus pandemic is everywhere and has left virtually no one and no part of the economy untouched,” Council member Andrew Cohen said in a statement Tuesday. “These bills will bring desperately-needed relief and critical protections for the workers, small businesses, and tenants who are bearing the brunt of this crisis.”