Senate Bill S5120A

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 5120--A

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              May 10, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced by Sens. SAVINO, HASSELL-THOMPSON, MONTGOMERY, PARKER -- read
  twice  and  ordered  printed,  and when printed to be committed to the
  Committee on Health -- recommitted to the Committee on Social Services
  in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill
  amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
  tee

AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to prohibiting work
  experience programs in New York

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 336 of the social services law, as
amended by section 148 of part B of chapter 436 of  the  laws  of  1997,
paragraph  (h) as amended by chapter 214 of the laws of 1998, is amended
to read as follows:
  1. Social services districts may provide, and require  applicants  for
and  recipients  of  public  assistance  to  participate in a variety of
activities[, including but not] limited to ACTIVITIES THE RECIPIENT  CAN
CHOOSE FROM WHICH WILL IMPROVE THE RECIPIENT'S EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES,
INCLUDING the following:
  (a) unsubsidized employment;
  (b) subsidized private sector employment;
  (c) subsidized public sector employment;
  [(d)  work  experience  in  the  public  sector  or non-profit sector,
(including work associated with refurbishing publicly assisted  housing)
if sufficient private sector employment is not available;]
  (e) On-the-job training;
  (f)  job search and job readiness assistance, provided that job search
is an active and continuing effort to secure  employment  configured  by
the local social services official;
  (g)  community service programs provided, however, the number of hours
a participant in community service  activities  authorized  pursuant  to

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD09776-03-4
              

S. 5120--A                          2

this  section  shall  be  required  to work in such assignment shall not
exceed a number which equals  the  amount  of  assistance  payable  with
respect  to  such  individual  (inclusive  of  the  value of food stamps
received  by  such  individual, if any) divided by the higher of (a) the
federal minimum wage, or (b) the  state  minimum  wage.  No  participant
shall  in any case be required to engage in assigned activities for more
than forty hours in any week. No participant  shall  be  assigned  to  a
community  service  activity  that  conflicts  with his or her bona fide
religious beliefs; AND  PROVIDED  FURTHER  THAT  PARTICIPANTS  SHALL  BE
ALLOWED TO CHOOSE THE LOCATION IN WHICH THEY PERFORM COMMUNITY SERVICE;
  (h)  vocational  educational  training as time limited by federal law.
For the purposes of this title, "vocational educational training"  shall
include  but not be limited to organized educational programs offering a
sequence of courses which are directly related  to  the  preparation  of
individuals  for  current or emerging occupations requiring other than a
baccalaureate or advanced degree. Such programs shall include  competen-
cy-based  applied learning which contributes to an individual's academic
knowledge, higher-order  reasoning,  and  problem-solving  skills,  work
attitudes,  general  employability skills, and the occupational-specific
skills necessary for economic  independence.  Such  term  also  includes
applied technology education;
  (i) job skills training directly related to employment;
  (j) education directly related to employment, in the case of a recipi-
ent  who  has not yet received a high school diploma or a certificate of
high school equivalency;
  (k) satisfactory attendance at secondary school or a course  of  study
leading to a certificate of general equivalency in the case of a recipi-
ent who has not completed secondary school or received such certificate;
  (l)  provision  of child care services to an individual who is partic-
ipating in community service;
  (m) job search and job readiness assistance once  the  individual  has
exceeded the six week limit set in federal law;
  (n)  educational  activities pursuant to section three hundred thirty-
six-a of this title.
  S 2. Section 336-c of the social services law, as amended  by  section
148  of  part  B  of  chapter  436 of the laws of 1997, subdivision 4 as
amended by chapter 534 of the laws  of  2000,  is  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  S  336-c.  Work experience. [1. (a)] Work experience programs [meeting
state and federal requirements may be  established  by  social  services
districts.
  (b) Work experience programs may include the performance of work for a
federal office or agency, county, city, village or town or for the state
or in the operation of or in an activity of a nonprofit agency or insti-
tution, in accordance with the regulations of the department.
  2.  A recipient may be assigned to participate in such work experience
program only if:
  (a) appropriate federal and state  standards  of  health,  safety  and
other work conditions are maintained;
  (b)  The  number  of hours a participant in work experience activities
authorized pursuant to this section shall be required to  work  in  such
assignment  shall not exceed a number which equals the amount of assist-
ance payable with respect to such individual (inclusive of the value  of
food  stamps  received by such individual, if any) divided by the higher
of (a) the federal minimum wage provided that such hours shall be limit-

S. 5120--A                          3

ed as set forth in subdivision four of section three hundred  thirty-six
of this title, or (b) the state minimum wage;
  (c)  such recipients are provided appropriate workers' compensation or
equivalent protection for on-the-job injuries and tort claims protection
on the same basis, but not necessarily at the  same  benefit  level,  as
they  are  provided  to  other persons in the same or similar positions,
while participating in work experience activities under this section;
  (d) the project to which the participant is assigned serves  a  useful
public  purpose in fields such as health, social services, environmental
protection, education, urban and rural  development  and  redevelopment,
welfare,  recreation, operation of public facilities, public safety, and
child day care;
  (e) such assignment would not result in (i) the  displacement  of  any
currently  employed  worker  or  loss  of  position  (including  partial
displacement such as reduction in the hours of non-overtime work,  wages
or  employment  benefits)  or  result  in  the  impairment  of  existing
contracts for services or collective  bargaining  agreements;  (ii)  the
employment  or  assignment of a participant or the filling of a position
when any other person is on layoff from the same or any equivalent posi-
tion or the employer  has  terminated  the  employment  of  any  regular
employee  or  otherwise reduced its workforce with the effect of filling
the vacancy so created with a  participant  assigned  pursuant  to  this
section;  (iii) any infringement of the promotional opportunities of any
current employed person; or (iv) the performance, by  such  participant,
of  a  substantial portion of the work ordinarily and actually performed
by regular employees; or (v) the loss of a bargaining unit position as a
result of work experience participants performing, in part or in  whole,
the work normally performed by the employee in such position;
  (f)  such  assignment  is  not  at  any work site at which the regular
employees are on a legal  strike  against  the  employer  or  are  being
subjected to lock out by the employer.
  3.  The  public  employer  shall  publish  on a monthly basis a report
summarizing the employer's work experience program for the  month.  Such
monthly  report shall include, at a minimum, summary information regard-
ing the agencies or departments where participants  are  assigned,  work
locations,  job  duties  and assignments, hours worked and period worked
and shall be provided to the certified collective  bargaining  represen-
tative  and  may  not  be  disclosed  to any other party. Such certified
collective bargaining representative  shall  take  reasonable  steps  to
protect  the  confidentiality of such information and shall take reason-
able steps to prevent disclosure  of  same  to  non-authorized  persons.
Every  report  provided pursuant to this section shall contain a warning
against re-disclosure and asserting the confidentiality of the  informa-
tion therein provided.
  4.  In  assigning  a recipient who is a non-graduate student attending
CUNY, SUNY or other approved non-profit  education,  training  or  voca-
tional  rehabilitation  agency, the social services district must, after
consultation with officials of CUNY, SUNY or other non-profit education,
training or vocational rehabilitation agency, assign the  student  to  a
work  site  on  campus,  where  the recipient is enrolled, and shall not
unreasonably  assign  the  student  to  hours  that  conflict  with  the
student's  academic  schedule, if an approved work experience assignment
is available. Where such work experience assignment  is  not  available,
the  social  services district shall, to the extent possible, assign the
student to a work site within reasonable proximity to the  campus  where
the  recipient is enrolled and shall not unreasonably assign the student

S. 5120--A                          4

to hours that conflict with the student's academic schedule.   Provided,
however, in order to qualify for a work experience assignment on-campus,
or  in  close  proximity  to  campus, a student must have a cumulative C
average,  or its equivalent. The district may waive the requirement that
the student have a cumulative C average  or  its  equivalent  for  undue
hardship  based on: (i) the death of a relative of the student; (ii) the
personal injury or illness of the student; or  (iii)  other  extenuating
circumstances] ARE PROHIBITED IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
  S  3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.