Bill Text: NY A00567 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Enacts the "New York call center jobs act"; requires prior notice of relocation of call center jobs from New York to a foreign country; directs the commissioner of labor to maintain a list of employers who move call center jobs; prohibits loans or grants.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 86-11)
Status: (Passed) 2020-01-02 - APPROVAL MEMO.97 [A00567 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A00567-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 567--C 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, COLTON, PAULIN, ARROYO, BARRON, CARROLL, STECK, WALKER, RAMOS, ABINANTI, HYNDMAN, JEAN-PIERRE, DICK- ENS, PEOPLES-STOKES, SEAWRIGHT, RYAN, ORTIZ, DE LA ROSA, FAHY, BENE- DETTO, GLICK, PERRY, D'URSO, RAIA, GARBARINO, DINOWITZ, RICHARDSON, OTIS, GOTTFRIED, ROZIC, CUSICK, SIMON, WOERNER, MOSLEY, BUCHWALD, WALLACE, AUBRY, BICHOTTE, QUART, GALEF, STIRPE, LUPARDO, CRESPO, SANTABARBARA, WILLIAMS, M. L. MILLER, WEPRIN, B. MILLER, TAYLOR, NORRIS, DAVILA, EPSTEIN, NIOU, REYES, BURKE, BRAUNSTEIN, FALL, ZEBROW- SKI, STERN, SIMOTAS, BRONSON, LiPETRI, REILLY, HUNTER, SMITH, COOK -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. DenDEKKER, ENGLEBRIGHT, HEVESI, LENTOL, LIFTON, McDONOUGH, RODRIGUEZ, THIELE, WRIGHT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "New York call center jobs act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "New York call center jobs act". 3 § 2. The labor law is amended by adding a new article 21 to read as 4 follows: 5 ARTICLE 21 6 NEW YORK CALL CENTER JOBS ACT 7 Section 770. Definitions. 8 771. List of relocated call centers. 9 772. Grants, guaranteed loans and tax benefits. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01837-06-9A. 567--C 2 1 773. Procurement contracts. 2 774. State benefits for workers. 3 775. No private right of action. 4 776. Regulations. 5 § 770. Definitions. As used in this article: 6 1. The term "call center" means a facility or other operation whereby 7 employees receive phone calls or other electronic communication for the 8 purpose of providing customer assistance or other service. 9 2. (a) The term "call center employer" means any business entity that 10 employs fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or fifty 11 or more employees that in the aggregate work at least fifteen hundred 12 hours per week, excluding overtime hours, for the purpose of staffing a 13 call center. 14 (b) The term "part-time employee" means an employee who is employed 15 for an average of fewer than twenty hours per week or who has been 16 employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the date on 17 which notice is required under this article. 18 § 771. List of relocated call centers. 1. A call center employer that 19 intends to relocate a call center from New York state to a foreign coun- 20 try or any other state, or reduce call volume handled at call centers in 21 New York state by at least thirty percent, measured as the call volume 22 of the previous calendar month compared to the average monthly call 23 volume of the previous twelve months, and intends to relocate such oper- 24 ations from New York state to a foreign country or any other state, 25 shall notify the commissioner at least one hundred days before such 26 relocation. 27 2. A call center employer that violates subdivision one of this 28 section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand 29 dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may 30 reduce such amount for just cause shown. 31 3. The commissioner shall compile an annual list of all call center 32 employers that relocate or reduce call volume pursuant to subdivision 33 one of this section, and such list shall be made available to the public 34 and shall prominently display a link to the list on the department's 35 website. 36 4. The commissioner shall make the list created pursuant to subdivi- 37 sion three of this section, available to the public and shall prominent- 38 ly display a link to the list on the department's website. 39 § 772. Grants, guaranteed loans and tax benefits. 1. Except as 40 provided in subdivision three of this section and notwithstanding any 41 other provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the list 42 described in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall be 43 ineligible for any direct or indirect state grants, state guaranteed 44 loans, tax benefits or other financial governmental support for a period 45 of five years from the date such list is published. 46 2. Except as provided in subdivision three of this section and 47 notwithstanding any other provision of law, a call center employer that 48 appears on the list described in section seven hundred seventy-one of 49 this article shall remit the unamortized value of any grant or guaran- 50 teed loans, or any tax benefits or other governmental support it has 51 previously received in the past five years. The provisions of this 52 subdivision shall apply to grants, loans, tax benefits and financial 53 governmental assistance that is entered into on or after the effective 54 date of this article. Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to 55 prevent the call center employer from receiving any grant to provide 56 training or other employment assistance to individuals who are selectedA. 567--C 3 1 as being in particular need of training or other employment assistance 2 due to the transfer or relocation of the call center employer's facility 3 or operating units. 4 3. The commissioner, in consultation with the appropriate agency 5 providing a loan or grant, may waive the requirement provided under 6 subdivision two of this section if the call center employer demonstrates 7 that such requirement would: 8 (a) threaten state or national security; 9 (b) result in substantial job loss in the state of New York; or 10 (c) harm the environment. 11 § 773. Procurement contracts. The head of each state agency shall 12 ensure that all state-business-related contracts for call center and 13 customer service work be performed by state contractors or other agents 14 or subcontractors entirely within the state of New York. State contrac- 15 tors who currently perform such work outside the state of New York shall 16 have two years following the effective date of this article to comply 17 with this section; provided, that if any such contractors which perform 18 work outside this state adds customer service employees who will perform 19 work on such contracts, those new employees shall immediately be 20 employed within the state of New York, except that businesses subject to 21 a contract agreed to prior to the effective date of this article with 22 terms extending beyond a date greater than two years after the effective 23 date of this article shall be subject to the provisions of this subdivi- 24 sion at the next point in which the contract is subject to renewal. 25 § 774. State benefits for workers. No provision of this article shall 26 be construed to permit withholding or denial of payments, compensation, 27 or benefits under any other state law, including but not limited to 28 state unemployment compensation, disability payments or worker retrain- 29 ing or readjustment funds, to workers employed by call center employers 30 that relocate to a foreign country. 31 § 775. No private right of action. Nothing set forth in this article 32 shall be construed as creating, establishing, or authorizing a private 33 cause of action by an aggrieved person against a call center employer 34 who has violated, or is alleged to have violated, any provision of this 35 article. 36 § 776. Regulations. The commissioner shall promulgate such rules and 37 regulations as shall be necessary and proper to effectuate the purposes 38 and provisions of this article. 39 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 40 it shall have become a law.