Seyfarth Synopsis: New York State published its Final Regulations to implement the 9/11 Notice Act, which requires employers to notify certain current and former employees of their potential eligibility for benefits from federal compensation funds. But with the 24th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaching, employers are still left wondering when and to whom they should send the required notice.
On September 11, 2024, Governor Hochul signed into law the 9/11 Notice Act (the “Act”). The Act seeks to identify and encourage those individuals who may have been impacted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 to enroll in federal benefit programs, including the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. To help identify and encourage those individuals, the Act requires business to notify current and former employees who worked in Lower Manhattan and Northern Brooklyn between September 2001 and May 2002.
The Act provided the New York State Department of Economic Development (“ESD”) with authority to develop “rules and regulations necessary to promote awareness and notification to any past or present businesses and their employees.” The ESD recently published Final Regulations that are now in effect.
The Final Regulations direct employers to provide notice by email, text, electronic messaging system, postal mail or facsimile. Employers must also retain a duplicate copy of this notice for not less than three years after issuance. While New York State did not provide employers with a mandatory notice form, it did publish a helpful toolkit with model notices for employers to send to their current and former employees.
However, the Final Regulations did not solve two key issues for employers. First, neither the Final Regulations nor the Act include any timing requirements for the notice to be issued, so it is unclear whether there is any deadline for compliance with the Act.
Second, acknowledging concerns associated with identifying current or former employees who worked in an affected area more than 20 years ago, the Final Regulations state that employers are only required to provide such notice “where practicable and in accordance with current federal, state or local record keeping laws and regulations” (emphasis added). However, this caveat does little to provide employers with concrete guidance.
Since the Final Regulations were published in May, there have been no updates from the ESD. Therefore, and with the upcoming 9/11 anniversary, employers should begin making reasonable efforts to search through the employment records of current and former employees to determine if they are covered under the Act and issue appropriate notice of potential benefits eligibility.
