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This story was reported by Daniel Bubbeo, Daysi Calavia-Robertson, Maura McDermott, Tory N. Parrish, Ken Schachter, Sarina Trangle and Scott Vogel. It was written by Schachter.

Long Island businesses in a coronavirus-induced coma since March 22 are about to awaken to a world where the rules have changed.

That’s the message from experts as companies prepare to emerge from the state’s lockdown.

For thousands of “nonessential” companies laying the groundwork to reopen under Albany’s phased plan, the learning curve will be steep and unforgiving, according to executives and advisers.

“The entire world has changed,” said Kevin Law, president and chief executive of the Long Island Association. “There will be new protocols, new standards.”

On Friday, five Upstate regions began reopening businesses in Phase One: construction, agriculture, manufacturing, wholesale trade, and retail where curbside or in-store pickup is possible.  After two weeks of monitoring to make sure COVID-19 numbers don’t spike, the regions could get the go-ahead to move to Phase Two. 

 With the state’s stay-at-home PAUSE order extended through May 28, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Long Island and other downstate regions “can be un-PAUSED the moment they hit their benchmarks,” the health metrics that indicate progress in containing the virus.

Law, who sits on Cuomo’s statewide coronavirus task force and a regional “control room” panel that monitors Long Island’s COVID-19 metrics, said the region remains a few weeks away.

When Long Island does begin its four-phase restart, companies that went dark will find a tectonic shift since March.

“It’s not going to go back to what it was,” said Joe Campolo, managing partner at Ronkonkoma law firm Campolo, Middleton & McCormick LLP.

Businesses that were shut down face a different set of hurdles than those that remained open and were able to hone their practices on the fly, Law said.

For many companies, restarting goes beyond turning on the lights and opening the doors. It means rehiring furloughed employees, refilling the supply chain, reassessing the market, reconnecting with customers and revising the business model. It also means figuring out how to create open spaces when “our whole society was built for density,” Campolo said.

Some businesses may not be able to make the leap.

“I get heart-wrenching stories from companies that are not going to make it,” Law said.

Campolo said it will be vital for companies not only to enact safety measures, but to communicate their commitment to safety.

“There’s an anxiety level out there we’ve never seen before,” he said.

Nicole Penn, president of Melville-based marketing firm EGC Group, is advising reopening restaurants that they need to rebuild trust with customers that their food is safe.

“If your business was closed completely, you have to do three times the amount of messaging with consumers,” she said.

Katherine Heaviside, of Epoch 5 Public Relations in Huntington, said businesses have to be consistent with their message, from the corner office to the mail room. “When you reestablish your relationships, you have to address” fears of all your stakeholders, she said. “Every employee is an ambassador of the company. Everybody has to be brought to the realization that they have the responsibility to bring their organization back from the brink.”

Here’s how Long Island businesses are facing the challenge:

PHASE 1: Construction, agriculture, manufacturing, wholesale trade and curbside retail

Forecast Consoles Inc.’s reopening plan ranges from split shifts to lawn chairs.

Ryan Haberman, chief executive of the 30-person company, said he is still working out final policies and layout for the Hauppauge manufacturer. But parts of the strategy are coming into focus.

Once authorities give the green light, the maker of control room consoles for broadcasters will have office staff continue to work remotely, but return manufacturing workers on split shifts.

Rather than stock a water cooler, the company will supply water bottles. Acrylic dividers will separate work areas. A rented warehouse nearby will help reduce density.

Face masks will be mandatory, Haberman said, but to alleviate discomfort, workers will be able to take frequent maskless breaks outside.

Haberman said he bought lawn chairs so that workers can sit outside in a garden that is set back from the street.

Aside from the government timetable, Haberman said he has his own benchmarks.

“My criteria is: Do our people feel safe and have we made changes in our facility that will let people stay safe?”

Meanwhile, some Long Island construction companies are scrambling to get protective equipment for employees.

Ben Jackson, owner of Ben’s General Contracting Corp. in Freeport, has been stocking up on masks, hand sanitizer and no-touch thermometers to check the temperature of anyone entering the office or a work site.

Because N95 masks used both in construction and in hospitals are now all but impossible to find, he said, construction workers are using looser-fitting surgical masks, even though there are concerns about their effectiveness.

Jackson is still working on projects deemed essential, such as homes damaged by superstorm Sandy, but his business is about half what it was before the outbreak.
“We don’t want a handout, we just want to work and earn a living,” he said.

PHASE 2: Professional services, retail, administrative support, real estate/rental and leasing

It’s hard to project exactly how big COVID-19’s impact will be on Long Island’s retail industry because the crisis isn’t over, experts said.

But, as stores reopen, there are steps many will take to reduce the spread of the virus — and some of those measures could be here to stay.

Retailers may widen  aisles to allow for better social distancing, encourage customers to use credit/debit cards instead of cash to reduce contact with cashiers, and stagger employees’ work schedules to reduce the number of people in breakrooms, said Nellie Brown, director of Workplace Health and Safety Programs for the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Employee screenings for temperature checks and symptoms of COVID-19 might become the new norm, even though they won’t catch COVID-19 cases that are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, she said.

In early April, Tutti, a children’s clothing boutique in Greenvale, introduced curbside pickup service for items purchased by phone, said Christina Connelly, founder and owner.  The store will continue to offer that service after it reopens to the public.

Also, it will require customers to wear masks in the boutique, hand out gloves to shoppers and eliminate fitting rooms, she said.

Tutti is showcasing its merchandise on Instagram and in FaceTime appointments with customers, Connelly said. “We’re helping you virtually. You’re not just going on a website without having any dealings with a salesperson.”  

Sales through curbside pickup are increasing nationwide. Two companies that own shopping centers on Long Island — Federal Realty Investment Trust and Kimco Realty Corp. — are designating special areas in their  parking lots for curbside pickup.

Real estate brokers, who also fall under Phase 2,  currently must work remotely and may only offer online tours of houses.

“I think once the in-person restrictions are lifted, there’s going to be kind of a flood” of activity, said Gary Baumann, an associate broker with Keller Williams Points North in Woodbury. Baumann said he has ordered disposable masks, gloves and booties for potential buyers.

“We have to step up our game because we’re responsible for the safety of buyers and sellers,” he said.

Once agents are allowed to resume in-person work, Baumann said he plans to hire a professional cleaning company to disinfect homes after each showing.

“Most people are happy to show their house to a really serious buyer who’s going to come in wearing a mask and gloves and being reasonably careful,” he said.

Ann Conroy, chief executive of Douglas Elliman’s Long Island division, said the industry will need to strike a balance between protecting people from the virus and resuming economic activity.

“Pushing the envelope and trying to get back sooner than we should is not the answer,” she said. But “continuing to be shut down is hurting very many people’s lives.”

PHASE 3: Restaurants and food services

As executive vice president of Great River-based Lessing’s Hospitality Group, Mark Lessing presides over a fleet of restaurants trying to gauge the future.

He predicted restaurants won’t be able to reopen for indoor service until July, and then only at 25% capacity, at least to start. “We are measuring the spaces, looking at how to minimize the tables, trying to figure out how to do the entrances and exits,” he said.

He’s been looking into “easy to get” Plexiglas,  although he conceded that no one really knows how diners would react to such retrofitting. “That’s part of what I’m struggling with.”

For now, Lessing is hoping to accomplish diner distancing with low-impact solutions like blocking off certain tables. Contactless ordering and payment systems also could be rolled out, he said.

“We’ll provide a bar code or URL. You scan the bar code and place your order, you pay at the table and we bring it out. It’s more of a runner service than a waiter service.”  

Meanwhile, Peter Hewitson, owner of Uncle Bacala’s in Garden City Park, has been installing more phone lines and adding a platform to his website so patrons can order online. As for dining in, Hewitson has already had measurements made for a Plexiglas shield over the bar. “You put the Plexiglas up, and then leave a little lip to serve the drink underneath.”

Hewitson has also installed hand sanitizing stations and has invested in gloves and masks.

He grew up working in a pizzeria, so  was prepared for an all-takeout business.

Despite the uncertain times, Hewitson said Uncle Bacala’s has an ace in the hole. “I have an outdoor area large enough to hold 100 people, and I can put a tent out there. That would work for the summer, at least.”

PHASE 4: Arts, entertainment, recreation, education

Public safety and security will become a central focus for hoteliers, Mark Irgang, president of the Long Island Hospitality Association, said.

Recovery efforts will include increased cleaning and disinfecting, contactless mobile check-in, and limits on crowding in elevators and other shared areas.

Marketing those efforts will be almost as pivotal as the initiatives themselves, experts said.

The same holds true for gyms.

At Primal Revival, a gym in Bohemia, owner Tristan Phillips said he will be setting up sanitation stations and putting  tape on the floor to ensure weight benches are at least six feet apart. The six to eight members who come to a typical class should be able to maintain a safe distance from one another in the 2,500-square-foot facility, Phillips said.

“People will be able to grab one kettle ball and use [it] throughout their entire session,” he said. “After the session, we’ll just wipe everything down.”

Phillips said masks, which restrict airflow for some people, will likely be optional.

Since the shutdown, he distributed kettle balls to members and invited them to attend workouts through Facebook Live and Zoom. About 60% of his clients are still members. Primal Revival received funding from the federal Paycheck Protection Program and is working on negotiating leniency with its landlord, Phillips said.

Before the pandemic, the gym had between 60 and 80 members, but he worries that many may not feel comfortable returning, and others may cancel their memberships if they experienced financial hardships.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure everyone’s safe,” Phillips said. “We’re just waiting to see what the government tells us we can do.”

The Argyle Theatre in Babylon, a theater venue that has been closed since mid-March, has a reopening strategy in the works that would reduce seating capacity.

“When we opened ‘Cabaret’ on March 12, we had a bizarre trial run for this because we had four performances that had 50% capacity. We had audience members spread out. Employees wore gloves and some had masks on,” said Dylan Perlman, who owns the theater with his father Mark Perlman. “Moving forward, we’re going to make sure all of our employees will be wearing masks and we’ll be encouraging our patrons to wear masks.” He added that operating below half-capacity would not be economically feasible.

Concert venues also face a future where their fortunes may hinge on safety concerns.

Laura Mogul, executive director of Port Washington’s Landmark on Main Street, said working out how to space concertgoers is keeping her up at night.

“Our interests and the artists’ are the same,” she said. “They want to be performing.”

Mogul said she is awaiting government guidance, but calculates it might be financially possible to operate the venue at about half capacity.

Movie theaters, too, must look at operating at reduced capacity.

National Amusements’ three Long Island theaters — Showcase Cinema de Lux Farmingdale, Showcase Cinema de Lux Broadway in Hicksville and Island 16: Cinema de Lux in Holtsville — have been closed since mid-March. The company is planning changes as it looks to reopen by mid-July, said Mark Malinowski, vice president of global marketing.

They include increasing cleaning frequency, reducing seating capacity by 50%, installing Plexiglas shields at point-of-sale areas, encouraging customers to buy tickets in advance online and encouraging customers to wear masks until they get to their seats, he said.

“It’s going to be a step-by-step process,” he said. “It’s a different world for everyone.” 

Originally published in Newsday

Earlier this year, a family-owned and operated landscaping business turned to CMM for help navigating a Department of Labor investigation concerning overtime and wages. CMM’s Arthur Yermash and Vincent Costa dug in, evaluating the company’s operations and wage processes and responding to the DOL investigation. This week, the Department of Labor advised Yermash and Costa that based on the information CMM provided in response to the investigation, the investigation would be closed, with no fines or penalties warranted.

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By Bill Sutton

Most sectors of the South Fork economy will rebound — although restaurants are sure to struggle — but the recovery from the COVID-19 shutdown will be neither swift or easy, a panel of business experts told Express News Group readers at a virtual Express/Press Sessions forum on May 7 via Zoom.

And anyone expecting a simple “flick of the switch” to bustling Main Streets and scrambling consumers on May 15 — the earliest date on which Governor Andrew Cuomo could relax stay-at-home orders and business restrictions when his New York Pause order is set to expire — is sure to be disappointed.

The forum — the first put on by the Express News Group since the pandemic took hold of the area in March — was held online via the Zoom videoconferencing platform and brought together a panel of South Fork business leaders. It was attended virtually by about 200 community members.

The forum, “Weathering the Storm: Key Tips for Bringing Back East End Business,” was intended to explore the future of business on the South Fork immediately following the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

Panelists included: Rocco A. Carriero, a private wealth advisor in Southampton; Kevin O’Connor, the chief executive officer of BNB Bank; Joe Campolo, the managing partner of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP; and John Tortorella, the owner of The Tortorella Group of Southampton.

Dr. Rajeev Fernando, an infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, led off the discussion with a brief overview of the medical considerations business owners face when getting back to business.

The 90-minute forum was moderated by Joseph P. Shaw, executive editor of the Express News Group.

The panelists were asked to discuss successful leadership practices during and after the crisis, safety in the workplace, federal financial aid packages for businesses, and key strategies for making a business successful as the crisis abates.

They all cautioned against expecting too much, too soon.

Successful business leaders, Mr. Campolo asserted, will be able to judge the situation correctly based on their past experiences and develop the way forward.

“The fundamental thing about leadership,” he said, “is that leaders aren’t born, they’re made. They’re made by the times that they exist in and how they rise to the occasion.

“We are seeing people all across society now who are leading thorough this pandemic, and I think the number one thing that a leader needs to do, whether it’s popular, unpopular or not, is they’ve got to accept reality. They’ve got to deal in facts. Accepting the reality of where we are right now is very difficult.”

“Everybody just wants this to go away,” he continued. “And everybody just wants this to end. … Reality is tough right now. … We have to accept this isn’t [going to be], May 15, the light switch is on, and all of a sudden it’s business as usual.”

Instead, he advised professionals to look at the macro environment everyone will be living in between now and the end of the year, and find ways to bring value to the new ecosystem being created by the crisis.

“What concerns me is the tone-deaf nature of what’s going on out there right now,” he said, “particularly on social media, where everyone’s, like, ‘Rah, rah, it’s all okay, we’re going to open on May 15 and we’re going to be fine.’

“We’re not. We’ve got to be smart. We’ve got to stick together. And we’ve got to bring value to a new ecosystem that we don’t even know what it looks like yet. That’s what I think we should be focused on at this point.”

Mr. Carriero offered a similar perspective, noting that the business owners he sees surviving the crisis have been aligning themselves with other successful professionals and advisors, pivoting to a changing market or new circumstances — such as restaurants that shifted to takeout meals — and positioning themselves for growth as the region begins to come out of the crisis.

“They’re looking at these dark days as not dark as in ‘I’m being buried,’ but dark as in ‘I’m being planted for future growth,’” he said.

Mr. O’Connor, whose bank has helped expedite about 4,000 federal stimulus loans to Long Island businesses amounting to over $950 million, noted that there are still funds available — the bank is currently processing about a dozen loans per day.

In fact, he was able to help one small business owner attending Thursday’s forum.

Michelle Del Giorno from Harbor Martial Arts in Sag Harbor asked Mr. O’Connor about federal Paycheck Protection Program loan regulations for small businesses without a payroll.

“I have probably one of the smallest businesses here in Sag Harbor,” she said. “I’ve been banking at BNB for 10 years. I do not have payroll. I did call the bank and spoke to the branch manager, and she told me I do not qualify for PPP because I don’t have payroll.”

Mr. O’Connor was reluctant to address Ms. Del Giorno’s concerns specifically in a public forum, but he did say that, generally, funding has become available in the second round of PPP loans for businesses without payrolls.

Later that day, he reported that he had spoken privately with Ms. Del Giorno, and that she was, in fact, eligible for a loan — and had begun the application process.

Mr. O’Connor agreed with the other panelists that recovery will be slow.

“This is not going to end May 15,” he said. “We’re in for a long slug to get this economy back into shape. I think the PPP program is just a little step. It’s money you should be using over the next two to three months.”

Pointing to successful business owners like Mr. Tortorella as an example, he agreed with Mr. Carriero that it is critical for proprietors to find and utilize knowledgeable advisors.

“The successful businesses that are out there surround themselves with people who give them advice and help them,” he said. “I always kid entrepreneurs that they’re not right all the time, so you need to have people around you who can tell you, and give you guidance.”

Deemed essential, Mr. Tortorella’s businesses did not need to shut down following the governor’s executive order in March, but he said during the forum that he and his 175 employees, across four divisions, have taken extraordinary measures to guarantee their safety and that of their clients.

“It’s not an easy task,” he said, noting that in the service division, they are dispatching one employee per service truck. “They have masks, they have sanitizers. Whatever materials they need, there’s one person in the warehouse at a time. Does that slow things down? Of course it does.”

Field managers are checking employees each morning to make sure they’re okay, he said. Only a single employee has contracted the virus, he noted.

“We’ve been extremely fortunate,” he said, “that we’ve had only one person — who’s well. He didn’t have to go to the hospital. He quarantined and he’s doing great. He should be back next week.”

Mr. Tortorella noted that, as the summer season gets underway and his crews focus more on pool maintenance, rather than service calls and pool openings, it will be much more challenging to maintain the one-person-per-truck policy. He’s hoping those restrictions will ease.

Dr. Fernando, however, earlier in the forum, speculated that even after businesses began to open back up, whether it’s May 15 or later, certain safety practices — like social distancing and wearing masks — might be here to stay, in the short term anyway.

“New York has been the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States,” he said. “People in New York, we’ve been in lockdown the longest. … We’re marching toward a May 15 reopening on a very small scale, a very stringent, small, scale.

“Based on my experience in epidemiology, I feel May 15 is a reasonable date to reopen — but I stress, once again, very stringent measures and still continuing aggressive social distancing, wearing a mask, and hand hygiene, of course. That’s the trifecta.”

Not wearing masks can be seen as being discourteous, he said, citing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I think we really have to follow these recommendations,” he said. “It’s really disrespectful to walk around potentially carrying an infection — whether you’re symptomatic or not — and pass it to other people. You always have to have a mask on.”

The panelists were eager to talk about the best business practices moving forward as the stalled economy begins to inch forward.

Forum attendee Harvey Feinberg asked the panel to comment on the idea that during the past two months of quarantine, nothing has significantly been done to “change the playing field” for businesses.

Mr. Campolo noted that the pandemic “caught us by such surprise that nobody really knew how to handle it.”

“The frenzy became PPP-based,” he said, “All of a sudden, PPP was the golden ticket. That’s what was going to lead you to salvation during this time.

“And an amazing thing happens when a business gets its PPP funds: You get funded, and all of a sudden you’re completely stressed out about, ‘Now, how do I spend it, and what do I do when this money runs out?’”

That’s what business owners are struggling with, he said. He compared it to being on a desert island, and a life raft washes up with enough food and water for a couple of months — but then what?

“What we need to start doing is, we need to get back to work,” he said. “We need to get back to work safely.

“Once this economy was turned off,” he added, “those dominoes will fall. GDP is going to fall. The debt is going to increase by trillions. The transportation systems are going to be shut down for a while until we figure it out. Travel, restaurants, hospitality, hotels, they’re all going to be shut down for a long time. Retail is going to be decimated. Those things are going to happen, and we need to be mitigating those economic challenges right now the same way we’re mitigating the health risks.”

Mr. Campolo stressed that a long-range macro plan was needed. “How are we surviving until the end of the year?” he asked. “We need to be mitigating those the same way we mitigated health, because if we don’t start increasing production right now, and we allow these dominoes to fall, we’re going to be decimated.”

Southampton Village Trustee Kimberly Allan asked from the virtual audience what local governments should be doing to help businesses weather the storm and move toward reopening.

Mr. Carriero said that local governments need “to communicate more effectively as to what options are available” and “check in with the business community about what they might need” and take those concerns to higher levels of government.

“The villages and the towns need to really take this into their own hands,” he said. “They can’t just wait for Governor Cuomo to come bail them out. Communities really need to take what’s going on into their own hands, develop their own strategic plan and start working those plans.”

Mr. Tortorella again added that he’d like to see local governments lobby to allow two people on a job site instead of only one, which is the current requirement.

“There’s a lot of frustration out there right now,” he said. “A lot of contractors are already beginning to break the rules. The local governments should be talking to Governor Cuomo to see what we can do. Something needs to be done to open the valve.”

Sag Harbor Village Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy, who attended the virtual forum, noted that her village has already been pushing to allow two people on a job site. “John, just to let you know, we have asked the governor repeatedly on the Suffolk County calls. All of Suffolk County has been begging for two people, at least,” she said. “We think it’s dangerous to have one construction person on any site.

“The other thing I’m very concerned about,” the mayor added, “is, every time you guys say the May 15 date — don’t get your hopes up, at least for out here.

“Suffok County is very bad. We are hoping things will loosen, construction being one of the first things, but a May 15 retail date and restaurant date is very, very unlikely for the East End.”

Ms. Allan noted that Southampton Village was sending a survey out to the business community to “get a pulse” and see what government could do to help businesses.

Further, she asked the panel what local actions the village could take to help out.

Mr. Campolo said that he has clients who will be facing the expiration of building permits while their contractors are under lockdown, and would like to see local governments extend those permits.

“If this goes on, your permit may expire,” he said. “Let’s not let that happen.”

Mr. Tortorella agreed, saying he hoped governments could extend those permits, and perhaps even speed up the review process for new applications, as the construction industry works to make up for a backlog of missed business during the quarantine once the economy reopens.

“As we get closer to possibly opening,” he said, “these permits, we’re going to need help in expediting them. Hopefully, it’s not going to take two months to get a simple building permit for a pool or for a tennis court or for something like that. That’s going to be huge.”

Construction aside, the panel acknowledged that much of the region’s economy was based on small retail shops, and a focus must be put on helping them to survive.

Mr. Shaw asked Mr. Compolo a question that several audience members had asked, that being how the community could ensure that the transient population, who may only be on the East End for a few weeks in the summer, and have “occasionally been notorious for bad behavior,” will follow social distancing rules in local retail stores.

“You can’t stop everyone from being a jerk,” Mr. Shaw said.

“We have to self-police,” Mr. Campolo answered. “After 9/11, it was if you saw something, say something. Post COVID is we have to self-police. … If we see jerks, we have to call them out as jerks. Because that’s what we do. We’re New Yorkers — we don’t care about calling people out. We have to do it, because we need them to survive.”

But Mr. Campolo stressed that local government has to put pressure on the state to get smaller retailers open before it’s too late.

“I represent small and medium businesses,” he said. “The small retailers are the backbone of Long Island and the East End, and they need to survive.

“But they’re not just going to magically survive. They need us to support them. We have to be supporting small businesses right now. We have to be utilizing takeout an curbside for these restaurants.

“We have to do it. It’s part of our patriotic duty to save these businesses.”

Originally published by Express News Group