S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
569
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
(PREFILED)
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL, SIMON -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to the participation in the
shared work program under the unemployment insurance law
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 605-a to
read as follows:
§ 605-A. RETROACTIVE ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYERS DURING THE
COVID-19 DECLARED EMERGENCY. 1. ANY EMPLOYER WHO HAS OTHERWISE MET THE
REQUIREMENTS SET FORTH IN SECTION SIX HUNDRED FIVE OF THIS TITLE AND WHO
HAS REDUCED HOURS TO EMPLOYEES ON OR AFTER THE ISSUANCE OF EXECUTIVE
ORDER 202 ON MARCH SEVENTH, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY, WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY
AND RETROACTIVELY DEEMED AN ELIGIBLE SHARED WORK EMPLOYER UNDER THIS
TITLE AND ANY EMPLOYEE WHOSE WORK HOURS HAVE BEEN REDUCED AS A RESULT OF
THE COVID-19 DECLARED EMERGENCY SHALL BE ELIGIBLE FOR PARTIAL UNEMPLOY-
MENT ACCORDING TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE THIS TITLE.
2. THE COMMISSIONER SHALL NOTIFY ELIGIBLE EMPLOYERS BY MAIL OF THEIR
RETROACTIVE ELIGIBILITY AND AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT INTO THE SHARED WORK
PROGRAM DUE TO THE COVID-19 DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY, ALONG WITH A
DESCRIPTION OF THE SHARED WORK PROGRAM AND THE ELIGIBILITY OF THEIR
CURRENT OR FORMER EMPLOYEES FOR PARTIAL BENEFITS, AS WELL AS THE APPLI-
CATION AND GUIDANCE ON HOW ELIGIBLE EMPLOYERS CAN COMPLETE AND SUBMIT AN
APPLICATION TO ENROLL IN THE PROGRAM. ANY EMPLOYER ENROLLED IN THE
SHARED WORK PROGRAM UNDER THIS PROVISION SHALL CONTINUE TO BE ENROLLED
UNTIL THE COVID-19 DECLARED STATE OF EMERGENCY CONCLUDES AND SUCH
EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES SHALL BE EXEMPT FROM THE REQUIREMENT TO COMPLETE
A WEEKLY CONTINUATION CLAIM FORM.
§ 2. Section 604 of the labor law, as amended by section 21-a of part
O of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03210-01-1
A. 569 2
§ 604. Eligibility conditions. A claimant shall be eligible for bene-
fits under this title if he or she works less than his or her normal
hours in a week for his customary employer, and that employer has
reduced or restricted the claimant's weekly hours of work, or has
rehired a claimant previously laid off and reduced his or her weekly
hours of work from those previously worked, as the result of a plan by
the employer to stabilize the work force by a program of sharing the
work remaining after a reduction in total hours of work and a corre-
sponding reduction in wages, provided the program requires not less than
a twenty percent nor more than a sixty percent reduction in hours and
wages among the work force. A claimant receiving supplemental unemploy-
ment compensation benefits, as defined in section five hundred one (c)
(17) (D) of the internal revenue code of nineteen hundred fifty-four,
shall not be eligible hereunder. Any employee who was otherwise eligible
for benefits under this title but was denied benefits during the period
beginning October first, two thousand one and ending on December first,
two thousand one because more than five percent of his or her wages were
derived from piece work, shall be entitled to make a retroactive claim
for such benefits provided such claim is filed within sixty days of the
effective date of this sentence. ANY EMPLOYEE WHO WOULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR
BENEFITS UNDER THE SHARED WORK PROGRAM DUE TO HIS OR HER REDUCED WEEKLY
HOURS BUT WAS DENIED A CLAIM ON OR AFTER MARCH SEVENTH, TWO THOUSAND
TWENTY, OR WHO DID NOT FILE A CLAIM, IS ELIGIBLE TO FILE A CLAIM FOR
LOST HOURS WORK FOR EACH WEEK BEGINNING MARCH EIGHTH, TWO THOUSAND TWEN-
TY, IF ELIGIBLE UNDER SECTION SIX HUNDRED FIVE-A OF THIS TITLE.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.