Page 9 - CooperatorNews NY April 2021

COOPERATORNEWS.COM COOPERATORNEWS — APRIL 2021 9 REBECCA SCANDALIATO rscandaliato@mackoul.com 516-279-1215 | www.mackoul.com Mackoul Risk Solutions provides training for the employees and board members who have direct interaction with those employees. For more information and to avoid costly fines for non-compliance contact Mackoul Risk Solutions today. OVERVIEW OF THE LAW New York State has enacted several significant measures regarding harassment in the workplace. All New York State employers are required to adopt written workplace harassment prevention policies and institute annual anti-harassment training for all employees. NEW YORK STATE MANDATED WORKPLACE HARASSMENT PREVENTION TRAINING MACKOUL RISK SOLUTIONS OUR LOW COST SOLUTION GET IN TOUCH DID YOU KNOW... That any employee hired must be trained on the workplace harassment prevention policy within 30 days of employment? Mandated training provided for Property Management Firms as well. Hence, there is a high likelihood that many community amenities will simply remain closed this spring and summer. Joe Balzamo is the COO of AR Manage- ment, a property management fi rm located in New Jersey. According to him, “One of the biggest problems right now in terms of opening amenities is that insurance compa- nies don’t cover viruses, etc., as part of their coverage. Th e impact is simple: if someone gets sick and sues the association, there’s no ability for the insurer to validate the litiga- tion. Associations would own the litigation and the claim. All the risk is on the associa- tion.” Glen Masullo, president and managing partner with Preferred Community Man- agement Services located in Somerset, New Jersey, concurs. “A major block to unilater- ally opening pools and other community amenities is legal issues. Insurance doesn’t cover these claims currently. Members of the board, association, and even vendors can be sued personally. As concerns this coming season,” continues Masullo, “the insurance issue hasn’t gone away.” “Th ere are always liability concerns,” says Scott Piekarsky, an attorney with Phillips Nizer in New Jersey. “People may get injured due to the pandemic through infection. We have these concerns again this year— people getting ill, and the ramifi cations of that. Aside from health and safety and legal compliance, one big issue is what insurance companies will cover. A condominium as- sociation is a business, and boards have a fi duciary duty to protect the members. We are hearing now that if someone gets CO- VID and sues the association, insurance will not defend or indemnify. No defense and no payout, until this is adjudicated. Coverage litigation actually started last summer, and I think we’ll see an increase in cases—we’re seeing it now, and eventually we may have a category of cases called ‘COVID-19 cases’ being fi led in the courts.” Cost Another serious issue facing boards if they decide to reopen their amenities is the cost involved with doing it. Various agencies at the state and local levels have established rules for social distancing, masking, and cleaning; some even have requirements for extra cleaning staff and personnel to observe and maintain crowd control within the ame- nity area. Such rules may make it impossible for some communities to foot the additional costs involved with reopening. Stephen DiNocco, a principal with Affi n- ity Realty and Property Management, locat- ed in Massachusetts, recounts that last year the board of health that governs some of his communities “made such diffi cult rules that many communities couldn’t open.” In one case, he says, “the property had more than 1,000 residents, but the regulations didn’t permit more than 20 people in the pool at one time. Aft er one use of the bathroom, it had to be cleaned and disinfected. Th e children’s pool wasn’t permitted to be used at all. Many boards are saying it’s just not fi nancially practical to reopen. Too much additional personnel for supervision and lo- gistics—they can’t aff ord the extra staff .” Understanding the Realities of COVID-19 Another factor in planning for the sum- mer and the future in general is the way board members and residents of condo- minium associations and co-op corpora- tions understand and view the crisis. Is it long-term, or will it end and life return to pre-pandemic reality? Th e facts on this are still unclear, but there is a growing consensus in the medical and scientifi c communities that COVID-19 will be with us for a long time, if not forever. While the national vaccination campaign is underway, increasing evidence points to this virus looking a lot more like the fl u (reemerging with varying severity each sea- son) than something like polio (eradicated completely aft er vaccination of the general population). It’s unlikely that vaccination for COVID-19 will be ‘one and done.’ Some of the current vaccines require two doses, and with talk of new variants daily, experts are increasingly suggesting a booster shot will be needed, most likely on an annual basis. According to DiNocco, “One thing that has been in the back of people’s minds is that this is a temporary situation, and will end. So they ask themselves, ‘How much eff ort should we put into it?’ If unit-owners are thinking short-term, or even medium-term, and they don’t believe the changes required to live with COVID-19 are permanent, they are less likely to institute rules changes that are eff ectively life changes, nor to spend the money to do it.” Th e other factor DiNocco points to is that “people don’t want to be around others who aren’t in their bubble—so why would we make a decision for their community allowing something that they wouldn’t do themselves right now?” He expects a lot of people to say that keeping amenities closed or limiting their use is no big deal for now, and to be willing to accept these decisions. “Th ere isn’t much interest in reopening,” he stresses. “I’ve only received one request to continued on page 13