Page 5 - NY Cooperator December 2020

COOPERATOR.COM THE COOPERATOR — DECEMBER 2020 5 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Legal Q A& Quarantine Quagmire Q What is proper payroll proce- dure for a cooperative employee who knowingly takes a vacation to a state on the COVID-19 quarantine list, forcing him to self-quarantine in his apartment for 14 days upon his return? Th e new state and federal COVID regu- lations are tricky, particularly as they interplay with the collective bargaining agreement. Does the employee have to use contractual paid time off (PTO), i.e., sick days, vacation days, and/or personal days, to be paid for the time he was quar- antined? —Confused A “New York state has a man- datory 14-day quarantine following travel to certain designated ‘hotspot’ states,” says Leni Mor- rison Cummins, member attorney with New York City law fi rm Cozen O’Connor. “If the employee traveled to one of those states, then yes, he must quarantine for 14 days following his return. Because the quarantine is mandatory in New York, the employee is eligible for paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to the extent he has remain- ing days left . Pursuant to the FFCRA, an employee is eligible for two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at the employ- ee’s regular rate of pay when the employee is unable to work because he is quaran- tined pursuant to law.” Board Election Concerns at Mitchell- Lama Co-op Q I am a shareholder in a Mitchell- Lama cooperative. My question is this: If I have concerns about the results of the board of directors elec- tion, how can I get an independent person to recount the votes and confi rm the tally? Management and the board of directors will not be of help in this situation. —Checking for Clarity A According to Andrew P. Brucker, a partner at the New York offi ce of law fi rm Armstrong Teasdale: “A shareholder has no right (unless stated otherwise in the bylaws) to demand a recount of an elec- tion. Under the Mitchell-Lama rules, pro- mulgated by New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD), all elections are supposed to be su- pervised by an independent election com- pany, or the housing company’s attorney or a lawyer, and that process may be costly. an accountant. In addition, all procedures must be approved by HPD. All of this evidence that there was something wrong should go a long way to assuring that the with the process or the tabulation, they election is fair and equitable, and that the might try calling HPD directly, who might opened up the wall to the porch, enclosed possibility of a failure to count the votes make some inquiries with management or the porch, and claimed it as living space. It properly is very remote. “If the shareholder has concerns that to the election.” something was wrong, they could bring a special action in court if the shareholder was aggrieved. But this would entail hiring “Finally, if the shareholder really has the housing company’s counsel in regard has since been cited by the city and must Porch as Living Space Q I live in a three-fl at condo. Be- fore I purchased the second fl oor, the owner of the third fl oor come down. Th e owner wants the fi rst and continued on page 14 ROSENWACH TANK THE FIRST NAME IN QUALITY CEDAR WOOD TANKS WE ARE CERTIFIED and IT MATTERS! 718.729.4900 43-02 Ditmars Boulevard, 2nd Fl., Astoria, NY 11105 www.rosenwachgroup.com Rosenwach is proud to announce that Rosenwach’s tanks are certified to NSF/ANSI 61 by NSF International, a leading global independent public health and safety organization. NSF/ANSI 61 addresses crucial aspects of drinking water system components such as whether contaminants that leach or migrate from the product/material into the drinking water are below acceptable levels in finished waters. To receive certification, Rosenwach Tank submitted product samples to NSF that underwent rigorous testing to recognized standards, and agreed to manufacturing facility audits and periodic retesting to verify continued conformance to the standards. The NSF mark is our customers’ assurance that our prod- uct has been tested by one of the most respected indepen- dent certification organizations. Only products bearing the NSF mark are certified.