State and federal legislation will take effect shortly that can ease the way for local residents who lost their jobs or need to miss work because of COVID-19.

Federal benefits to start next week

Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday that unemployed New Yorkers will begin receiving extended and expanded federal unemployment benefits next week — the first week these benefits can be paid under federal law.

The federal government has extended unemployment benefits for 11 more weeks through March 14, 2021.

New York is able to provide these benefits immediately, according to a release from the governor’s office, due to proactive work by the state’s Department of Labor to prepare for the federal government finally enacting a bill to extend unemployment programs originally included in the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act that were set to expire at the end of 2020.

The programs extended include:

— Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which provides benefits for those not covered by traditional state unemployment insurance;

— Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which provides additional weeks of benefits after an individual exhausts the 26 weeks of state unemployment insurance; and

— Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which provides all New Yorkers receiving unemployment benefits an additional $300 weekly payment.

“We have paid out more than $59 billion in benefits to over 3.9 million unemployed New Yorkers during this crisis — nearly 28 typical years’ worth of benefits paid in 10 months — and we will continue to move heaven and earth to serve our neighbors,” said Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon in a statement.

More information on filing unemployment claims is available on the labor department’s website: https://dol.ny.gov/.

Paid sick leave

Last March, Cuomo had signed pandemic-specific paid sick leave to help New Yorkers affected by COVID-19.

On Tuesday, he noted that, starting Jan. 1, New Yorkers can begin to use sick-leave benefits under the state’s new law, which was enacted as part of the 2021 budget.

The law guarantees paid sick leave for workers at medium and large business and paid or unpaid leave for those at small businesses depending on the business’s net income.

Businesses with 100 or more employees must provide seven paid sick days a year while businesses with five to 99 workers must pay for five.

Businesses with fewer than five workers with a net income more than $1 million must also pay for five days while businesses with fewer than five workers with a net income less than $1 million must provide five days of unpaid sick leave.

Death benefits

At Wednesday’s press briefing, Cuomo said, “I’m extending the law providing death benefits to the families of frontline workers who lost their lives fighting the pandemic, and I'm extending them by executive order for 30 days.”