UPDATE on SVIC Operations
We hope you are all safe and healthy while practicing all the precautionary measures necessary to get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
All of us at Sauquoit Valley Insurance Company wish you well and want you to know that we remain open for business.
We have enacted a work from home policy. We remain available to service you, our policyholders.
You can reach out to us by email or by phone. Our goal is to maintain customer service with as little disruption as possible. We will keep you posted on additional developments and updates within our operations. We thank you for your business and your cooperation.
Insurance Agencies Exempt From Workforce Reduction Executive Order
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed an Executive Order No. 202.6 on March 18, 2020, requiring all nonessential businesses to reduce their in-office workforce by 50%. The governor subsequently modified that order on March 19, increasing the reduction of in-office workforce to 75% for nonessential businesses.
To clarify which businesses are considered essential and nonessential, Empire State Development released guidance on March 19, 2020.
ESD identified 12 categories of businesses, many with their subcategories, as essential businesses. Among the recognized businesses were financial institutions. Insurance is included explicitly in this category alongside banks, payroll, and accounting.
As insurance agencies have been categorized as essential business, they are exempt from the governor’s executive order, and they are not required to reduce their in-office workforce by 75%.
Further, in the guidance, ESD makes clear that if a business operates or provides both essential and nonessential services, only those lines and or business operations that are necessary to support the vital services, supplies, or support are exempt from the restrictions.