NY State Senate Bill 2019-S7345

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 21, 2020	referred to labor

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Labor
Law Section:: Labor Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §860-c, Lab L

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to employer notice requirements for the closing of a plant; removes exception to notice requirement for when notice was not reasonably foreseeable and when at the time notice would have been required the employer was actively seeking capital or business.

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S7345

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the labor law, in relation to employer notice require-
ments for the closing of a plant

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 1 of section 860-c of the labor law to
eliminate two exceptions to the notice requirements under the WARN Act:
(1) situations in which an employer is actively seeking capital, and (2)
lack of foreseeability.

Section 2 sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

On Christmas Eve of 2019, the Doral Arrowwood Resort in the Village of
Rye Brook informed its approximately 275 employees that it would be

shutting down on January 12,2020, just 19 days later. The New York State
WARN Act requires 90 days' notice when more than 50 employees are
affected in such situations. These employees, many of whom worked for
the hotel for many years, were faced with the prospect of being unem-
ployed in short order, and financially at risk. In situations in which
notice is late or absent, employers are liable for up to 60 days of back
pay and benefits. However, under current law, noncompliance and the
employer's duty to pay them is waived if the employer can prove that
either (1) the employer was actively seeking capital that, if obtained,
would have allowed the employer to avoid the mass layoff and the employ-
er believed giving notice to employees would have precluded the employer
from obtaining such capital, or (2) the need for notice was not reason-
ably foreseeable at the time the notice was required.

Because the WARN Act also requires notice to be given to the Department
of Labor and certain other entities, these exceptions can allow for
reduced time for the Department to react to a WARN situation.

The fact that an employer was actively seeking funding or that the
employment loss requiring WARN Act notice was unforeseeable should not,
in either case, allow them to escape compliance with the WARN Act. This
bill preserves other existing exceptions for temporary projects, natural
disasters, and lockouts, but ensures that employers cannot hide behind
vague business arguments to avoid paying their employees or to relieve
them from providing sufficient notice to their employees, the Department
of Labor, and other required notice recipients.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7345
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 21, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MAYER  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
 
 AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to employer  notice  require-
   ments for the closing of a plant
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 860-c of the labor law,  as  added
 by chapter 475 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  In  the  case  of  a plant closing, an employer is not required to
 comply with the notice requirement in subdivision one of  section  eight
 hundred sixty-b of this article if:
   (a)[(i)  at the time the notice would have been required, the employer
 was actively seeking capital or business; and
   (ii) the capital or business sought, if obtained, would  have  enabled
 the employer to avoid or postpone the relocation or termination; and
   (iii)  the  employer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving
 the notice required by subdivision one of section eight hundred  sixty-b
 of  this  article  would  have precluded the employer from obtaining the
 needed capital or business;
   (b) the need for a notice was not reasonably foreseeable at  the  time
 the notice would have been required;
   (c)] the plant closing is of a temporary facility or the plant closing
 or  mass  layoff is the result of the completion of a particular project
 or undertaking, and the affected employees were hired  with  the  under-
 standing that their employment was limited to the duration of the facil-
 ity or project or undertaking;
   [(d)]  (B)  the  plant  closing  or  mass layoff is due to any form of
 natural disaster, such as a flood, earthquake, or drought; or
   [(e)] (C) the closing or mass layoff constitutes a strike  or  consti-
 tutes  a lockout not intended to evade the requirements of this article.
 Nothing in this article shall  require  an  employer  to  serve  written
 notice  when  permanently  replacing  a  person  who  is deemed to be an
 economic striker under the National Labor Relations Act (29  U.S.C.  151
 et seq.). Nothing in this article shall be deemed to validate or invali-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD14818-01-0

 S. 7345                             2
 
 date  any  judicial  or  administrative ruling relating to the hiring of
 permanent replacements for economic strikers under  the  National  Labor
 Relations Act.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S7345

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

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2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Details

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Shelley B. Mayer

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Actions

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Details

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2019-S7345 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments