Assembly Bill A6168A

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6168--A
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 26, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. LUNSFORD -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee  on Labor -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
   as amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to increasing  the  unemploy-
   ment insurance minimum weekly benefit amount

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 590 of the  labor
 law,  as  amended  by  section  8 of part O of chapter 57 of the laws of
 2013, is amended to read as follows:
   (a) A claimant's weekly benefit amount shall be  one  twenty-sixth  of
 the  remuneration  paid  during the highest calendar quarter of the base
 period by employers, liable for contributions or  payments  in  lieu  of
 contributions under this article, provided the claimant has remuneration
 paid  in  all four calendar quarters during [his or her] SUCH CLAIMANT'S
 base period or alternate base period, BUT SHALL NOT BE LESS  THAN  EIGHT
 HUNDRED  SIXTY  DOLLARS.  However, for any claimant who has remuneration
 paid in all four calendar quarters during [his or her]  SUCH  CLAIMANT'S
 base  period  or  alternate  base period and whose high calendar quarter
 remuneration during the base  period  is  three  thousand  five  hundred
 seventy-five  dollars  or  less, the benefit amount shall be one twenty-
 fifth of the remuneration paid during the highest  calendar  quarter  of
 the  base  period  by  employers liable for contributions or payments in
 lieu of contributions under this article, BUT SHALL  NOT  BE  LESS  THAN
 EIGHT  HUNDRED  SIXTY  DOLLARS. A claimant's weekly benefit shall be one
 twenty-sixth of the average remuneration paid in the two  highest  quar-
 ters  paid  during the base period or alternate base period by employers
 liable for contributions or payments in lieu of contributions under this
 article when the claimant has remuneration paid in two or three calendar
 quarters provided however, that a claimant whose high  calendar  quarter
 is  four  thousand  dollars or less but greater than three thousand five
 hundred seventy-five dollars shall have a weekly benefit amount  of  one
 twenty-sixth  of  such high calendar quarter, BUT SHALL NOT BE LESS THAN
 EIGHT HUNDRED SIXTY DOLLARS. However, for any claimant who has remunera-
 
              

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09341-02-5
 A. 6168--A                          2
 
 tion paid in two or three calendar quarters during  [his  or  her]  SUCH
 CLAIMANT'S  base period or alternate base period and whose high calendar
 quarter remuneration during the  base  period  is  three  thousand  five
 hundred  seventy-five  dollars  or less, the benefit amount shall be one
 twenty-fifth of the remuneration paid during the highest calendar  quar-
 ter of the base period by employers liable for contributions or payments
 in  lieu of contributions under this article, BUT SHALL NOT BE LESS THAN
 EIGHT HUNDRED SIXTY DOLLARS. Any claimant whose  high  calendar  quarter
 remuneration  during  the  base  period is more than three thousand five
 hundred seventy-five dollars shall not have a weekly benefit amount less
 than [one] EIGHT hundred [forty-three] SIXTY dollars. The weekly benefit
 amount, so computed, that is not a  multiple  of  one  dollar  shall  be
 lowered  to  the  next  multiple  of  one dollar. On the first Monday of
 September, nineteen hundred ninety-eight the weekly benefit amount shall
 not exceed three hundred sixty-five  dollars  nor  be  less  than  forty
 dollars,  until  the  first  Monday of September, two thousand, at which
 time the maximum benefit payable  pursuant  to  this  subdivision  shall
 equal  one-half  of the state average weekly wage for covered employment
 as calculated by the department no sooner than July first, two  thousand
 and no later than August first, two thousand, rounded down to the lowest
 dollar. On and after the first Monday of October, two thousand fourteen,
 the weekly benefit shall not be less than one hundred dollars, nor shall
 it exceed four hundred twenty dollars until the first Monday of October,
 two  thousand  fifteen  when  the  maximum  benefit amount shall be four
 hundred twenty-five dollars, until the  first  Monday  of  October,  two
 thousand  sixteen  when the maximum benefit amount shall be four hundred
 thirty dollars, until the first Monday of October, two  thousand  seven-
 teen  when  the maximum benefit amount shall be four hundred thirty-five
 dollars, until the first Monday of October, two thousand  eighteen  when
 the  maximum  benefit  amount shall be four hundred fifty dollars, until
 the first Monday of October, two  thousand  nineteen  when  the  maximum
 benefit  amount  shall  be thirty-six percent of the average weekly wage
 until the first Monday of October, two thousand twenty when the  maximum
 benefit amount shall be thirty-eight percent of the average weekly wage,
 until  the  first  Monday  of  October, two thousand twenty-one when the
 maximum benefit amount shall be forty  percent  of  the  average  weekly
 wage,  until  the  first Monday of October, two thousand twenty-two when
 the maximum benefit amount shall be forty-two  percent  of  the  average
 weekly  wage,  until  the  first Monday of October, two thousand twenty-
 three [when the maximum benefit amount]. ON AND AFTER THE  FIRST  MONDAY
 OF  OCTOBER,  TWO  THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE, THE WEEKLY BENEFIT SHALL NOT BE
 LESS THAN EIGHT HUNDRED SIXTY DOLLARS, NOR shall [be] IT  EXCEED  forty-
 four percent of the average weekly wage, until the first Monday of Octo-
 ber,  two  thousand twenty-four when the maximum benefit amount shall be
 forty-six percent of the average weekly wage, until the first Monday  of
 October,  two thousand twenty-five when the maximum benefit amount shall
 be forty-eight percent of the  average  weekly  wage,  until  the  first
 Monday  of  October, two thousand twenty-six and each year thereafter on
 the first Monday of October when the maximum  benefit  amount  shall  be
 fifty  percent  of the average weekly wage provided, however, that in no
 event shall the maximum benefit amount  be  reduced  from  the  previous
 year.
   §  2.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
 have become a law.