NY State Senate Bill 2021-S783

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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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to labor
Jan 06, 2021	referred to labor

co-Sponsors

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2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A569
Current Committee:: Senate Labor
Law Section:: Labor Law
Laws Affected:: Add §605-a, amd §604, Lab L
Versions Introduced in 2019-2020 Legislative Session:: S8242, A10392

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Allows employers to participate in the shared work program under the unemployment insurance law retroactively to the date of the COVID-19 declared emergency.

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S783

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the labor law, in relation to the participation in the
shared work program under the unemployment insurance law

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill expands eligibility and participation in the shared work
program during the COVID-19

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill amends article 18, section 605 of labor law.

Section 1 of the bill creates a provision whereby any employer who meets
the existing requirements for acceptance into the shared work program
will be retroactively granted admittance so that any employee of that
employer who has reduced work hours, but is not laid off or terminated,

will be eligible to file for partial unemployment insurance benefits in
order to compensate for lost hours. This provision is retroactive to the
date of executive order 202 on March 7, 2020.

Section 2 requires the commissioner to notify employers who are newly
eligible for retroactive admission to the shared work program of their
eligibility, share information about the program, distribute the appli-
cation as well as guidance for how it should be completed.  Any employer
retroactively enrolled in the shared work program will be continuously
enrolled until the state-of-emergency is declared over. Employers will
not be subjected to the requirement to jointly fill out a weekly certif-
ication form with their employees in order to maintain eligibility for
the program.

Section 3 of the bill provides that the bill shall take effect imme-
diately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

An unprecedented 10 million people across the country have recently
applied for unemployment insurance as the novel coronavirus has led to
business slowdowns and shutdowns. However, thousands of more employees
find themselves experiencing severe economic distress, not due to
layoffs or termination, but rather because their work hours have been
curtailed in the face of declining business and the need to 'social
distance.' New York has an existing program called the shared work
program, which allows employers who have applied in advance to reduce an
employees hours and make them eligible for partial unemployment insur-
ance to compensate for the reduced income. Historically, the program has
been used by employers who know their business is seasonal or sporadic
and who wish to retain their employees, maintain benefits and increase
morale by avoiding terminations and layoffs.  Given the immediate and
unexpected nature of this pandemic it is unreasonable to assume that
employers in many industries could not have anticipated the current
scale of reductions and layoffs and thus have applied for the shared
work program. This bill allows employers to be retroactively enrolled in
the shared work program, thus making their employees who are on reduced
work schedules eligible for partial unemployment benefits.
Additionally, due to the federal CARES Act, the federal government will
cover the costs of benefits provided through work sharing, and these
employees will become eligible for the weekly $600 supplement to unem-
ployment insurance. This bill will grant retroactive admittance into
this program and require the commissioner to notify employers of their
eligibility and directives for how they can complete the application and
verification process. Furthermore, it waives the weekly requirement for
employers and employees to jointly complete a form to maintain their
week-to-week eligibility, so as to not encourage unnecessary social
contact.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S8242 - Referred to Labor

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    783
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. GOUNARDES, BIAGGI, BROOKS, GAUGHRAN, LIU, RIVERA --
   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 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.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD03210-01-1

 S. 783                              2
 
   § 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:
   §  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.

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Senate Bill S783

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

co-Sponsors

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S783

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Sponsored By

Andrew Gounardes

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

co-Sponsors

Alessandra Biaggi

John E. Brooks

James Gaughran

John C. Liu

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S783 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments