Tech:NYC Digest: September 22

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Wednesday, September 22, 2021

In today’s digest, CDC convenes on booster shot recommendations, making heads and tails of the NY HERO Act with employment law expert Harris Mufson, and Tech Gives Back plus other ways to put your team forward.

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By the numbers:

• New positive cases statewide: 5,242 (+1,810)

  • New positive cases, NYC: 1,631 (+362)

• Statewide Fatalities: 41 (+9)

• NYC Positivity Rate: 1.9 percent

• Statewide Vaccine Progress:

  • Percentage of adults (18+) with at least one dose: 82.8 percent 

  • Percentage of total population with at least one dose: 70.1 percent

Today’s latest: 

• Scientific advisors to the CDC will meet today to decide which Americans should get booster shots of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine and when. Depending on their verdict, booster shots could be offered to most Americans, or only to a select few who meet a certain criteria. (New York Times)

• The next mayor will inherit several long-term trends made worse by the pandemic. Public safety and traffic fatalities are the biggest areas of concern, according to this year’s (and Mayor de Blasio’s final) Mayor’s Management Report, which quantitatively measures the city's progress, or lack thereof. (Spectrum News)

• City Council Speaker Corey Johnson is allowing roughly 300 central staffers under his purview to work from home all but one day a week beginning Oct. 18. Council employees are entitled to work from home, barring certain in-person hearings, and they need approval from Johnson’s chief of staff and the Council’s Sergeant at Arms to enter a government building near City Hall. (Politico)

  • This policy is at odds with Mayor de Blasio’s requirement that all city employees return to their offices full-time after 18 months of allowing remote work.

  • City Comptroller Scott Stringer has also been vocal about his plans to defy de Blasio’s directive. Stringer said his employees won’t return to the workplace until at least Oct. 12. (New York Daily News)

• The Big Apple Circus is coming back to town and, for the first time ever, world-renowned aerialist, high wire artist and Guinness World Record Holder Nik Wallenda will take the lead. Named “Making The Impossible, Possible!,” the show will make its return to Lincoln Center on Nov. 11h. (amNY)

In other reading:

• New York City Bristles Again (Wall Street Journal)

• Where Are the Tests? (New York Times)

• They Never Could Work From Home. These Are Their Stories. (New York Times)

Earlier this month, Pres. Biden announced new federal rules in which employers will have to require their workers to be vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing (the regulations still have to be actually issued by the Dept. of Labor). 

• Here’s a good FAQ on what we know so far about the mandate. More guidance from OSHA is expected in the coming weeks.

New York employers should also be preparing to get their workplaces in compliance with the NY HERO Act, a law mandating businesses have an official health and safety plan for their workplaces.

• The requirement to have a plan kicks in when the state designates an airborne infectious disease as “highly contagious and communicable.” Gov. Hochul made that designation on Sept. 6, and it remains in effect until Sept. 30. The state Dept. of Labor will then decide whether to keep the designation active.

With the NY HERO Act in effect, Tech:NYC organized a briefing with employment law expert Harris Mufson earlier today to get clarity on how the new regulations impact tech companies (and office-based workers more broadly). Here are five things Mufson said employers should do now:

1. Review the plan: Update existing workplace safety plans so that they meet or exceed the model plan provided by the state, which is available here.

2. “Promptly” activate the plan: With the Act in effect, employers should have had their plans in effect by now, but there’s no additional guidance defining what “promptly” means.

3. Distribute the plan: A copy of your company’s plan should be given to employees and posted in a visible location in each worksite.

4. Add the plan to your handbook: If your employer provides employee manuals or handbooks, the plan must be included.

5. Verbally review the plan: Employers must conduct an all-hands or other company-wide meeting to “verbally review” the plan and employee rights under the Act.

The second section of the Act requires new workplace safety committees:

• Employers in New York with ten or more must allow (but not necessarily require, Mufson noted) employees to establish a joint labor-management workplace safety committee.

• The committees should be authorized to raise health and safety concerns, review proposed company policies, and schedule regular committee meetings during work hours, among others.

• With the safety plan outlined above should be in effect now, the committee provisions go into effect Nov. 1.

And for both state and forthcoming federal rules, Mufson said the best bet for companies to act early:

• Do not underestimate the administrative burden weekly testing requirements will be. Securing test vendors and figuring out what teams internally will be responsible for conducting, processing, and enforcing testing policies are steps companies should be taking now to comply with OSHA.

Mufson noted that these policies are all meant to protect against in-person workplace spread of the virus, so the rules will likely look a lot different (or not apply at all) to remote employees or fully remote companies.

In other reading:

• The Winners of Remote Work (New York Times)

• When quitting your job feels like the only option (Vox)

• New Slack product innovations unveiled at Dreamforce (Slack)

• Amberdata, a New York City-based blockchain analytics startup, raised  $15 million in Series A funding. Citi led the round. (CoinDesk)

• Bilt Rewards, a New York-based loyalty program for renters, raised $60 million at a $350 million valuation from Wells Fargo, Blackstone Group, Mastercard, AvalonBay Communities, Equity Residential, GID-Windsor Communities, LENx, The Moinian Group, Morgan Properties, Starwood Capital Group, and Related Cos. (TechCrunch)

• Chapter, a New York City-based medicare plan selection and enrollment guide, raised $17 million in Series A funding. Narya Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Susa Ventures, Maverick Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, Core Innovation Capital, and Health2047 Capital Partners. Peter Thiel also joined the company’s board of directors. (FinSMEs)

• GrowthSpace, a New York City-based maker of personalized talent development programs, raised $15 million in Series A funding. M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, and Vertex Ventures co-led the round. (PR Newswire)

• June Homes, a New York City-based apartment rental agency, for $50 million. SoftBank Ventures Asia led the round and was joined by investors including TQ Ventures, FJ Labs, K50, Reshape, Quiet Capital, and angel investors including Demi Lovato and Scott Belsky. (TechCrunch)

• Nomad Health, a New York-based online marketplace for temporary healthcare jobs, raised $63 million in equity and debt funding. Adams Street Partners led the round and was joined by insiders Icon Ventures, Polaris Partners, RRE Ventures, .406 Ventures, First Round Capital, and SVB. (Bloomberg)

• Pager, a New York-based virtual care navigation and collaboration platform, raised $70 million in Series C equity and debt funding. Susquehanna led the round and was joined by Horizon Healthcare Services and SVB. (FinSMEs)

• Pearl Health, a care delivery and billing software company for primary care physicians, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by AlleyCorp and Kevin Ryan. (MobiHealthNews)

• Rose, a New York City-based maker of a data marketplace, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Portage Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including BoxGroup and Sound Ventures. (FinSMEs)

Tech Gives Back, the annual week of community service hosted by Silicon Valley Bank, is returning Oct. 4 – 8 to bring together thousands of tech workers from around the world to give back to their communities. Now in its 11th year, Tech Gives Back 2021’s theme is focused on diversity, equity, and access, and this year’s volunteer and fundraising opportunities are all virtual with a diverse collection of nonprofits. Learn more and sign yourself and your teams up here.New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), in partnerships with NYU C2SMART Center, Fraunhofer, and Nelson\Nygaard, is seeking tech companies and other businesses, as well as employee benefits companies, interested in growing bicycle, e-bike, and scooter leasing and other commuter benefits for employees. If your company is interested in learning more or being involved, join the concept showcase on Sept. 29 by registering here.AI4ALL is hosting its Changemakers in AI Virtual Career Fair, seeking companies, nonprofit organizations, government entities, and research labs with 2021 and 2022 opportunities for emerging AI talent at the undergraduate level who have been trained in AI4ALL’s programs. If your company is interested in connecting 1:1 over video with interested candidates, providing info sessions to larger groups, or quickly accessing candidates' resumes, learn more and register your interest be Sept. 29 here.Newlab and the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are partnering on the fifth round of the American-Made Solar Prize, a competition seeking startups to develop innovative software and hardware solutions for the energy market. A two-track structure — one for hardware and one for software — awards US teams up to $3 million in grant funding and partnerships opportunities with the US Dept. of Energy. Learn more and apply by Oct. 5 here.Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator NYC is accepting applications for its Winter 2022 program. The accelerator provides $100K in seed funding with the potential for follow-on funding, as well as a mentor and alumni network of 240+ companies. Join its applicant AMA on Sept. 21 and apply by Nov. 9 here.

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