Bill Text: NY A00569 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to labor [A00569 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A00569-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           569

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       (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:

     1    Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section  605-a  to
     2  read as follows:
     3    §  605-a.  Retroactive  eligibility  for  certain employers during the
     4  COVID-19 declared emergency. 1. Any employer who has otherwise  met  the
     5  requirements set forth in section six hundred five of this title and who
     6  has  reduced  hours  to  employees on or after the issuance of executive
     7  order 202 on March seventh, two thousand twenty, will  be  automatically
     8  and  retroactively  deemed  an  eligible shared work employer under this
     9  title and any employee whose work hours have been reduced as a result of
    10  the COVID-19 declared emergency shall be eligible for partial  unemploy-
    11  ment according to the provisions of the this title.
    12    2.  The  commissioner shall notify eligible employers by mail of their
    13  retroactive eligibility and automatic enrollment into  the  shared  work
    14  program  due  to  the COVID-19 declared state of emergency, along with a
    15  description of the shared work program  and  the  eligibility  of  their
    16  current  or former employees for partial benefits, as well as the appli-
    17  cation and guidance on how eligible employers can complete and submit an
    18  application to enroll in the  program.  Any  employer  enrolled  in  the
    19  shared  work program under this provision shall continue  to be enrolled
    20  until the COVID-19  declared  state  of  emergency  concludes  and  such
    21  employers and employees shall be exempt from the requirement to complete
    22  a weekly continuation claim form.
    23    §  2. Section 604 of the labor law, as amended by section 21-a of part
    24  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

     1    § 604. Eligibility conditions. A claimant shall be eligible for  bene-
     2  fits  under  this  title  if he or she works less than his or her normal
     3  hours in a week for  his  customary  employer,  and  that  employer  has
     4  reduced  or  restricted  the  claimant's  weekly  hours  of work, or has
     5  rehired  a  claimant  previously  laid off and reduced his or her weekly
     6  hours of work from those previously worked, as the result of a  plan  by
     7  the  employer  to  stabilize  the work force by a program of sharing the
     8  work remaining after a reduction in total hours of  work  and  a  corre-
     9  sponding reduction in wages, provided the program requires not less than
    10  a  twenty  percent  nor more than a sixty percent reduction in hours and
    11  wages among the work force. A claimant receiving supplemental  unemploy-
    12  ment  compensation  benefits, as defined in section five hundred one (c)
    13  (17) (D) of the internal revenue code of  nineteen  hundred  fifty-four,
    14  shall not be eligible hereunder. Any employee who was otherwise eligible
    15  for  benefits under this title but was denied benefits during the period
    16  beginning October first, two thousand one and ending on December  first,
    17  two thousand one because more than five percent of his or her wages were
    18  derived  from  piece work, shall be entitled to make a retroactive claim
    19  for such benefits provided such claim is filed within sixty days of  the
    20  effective  date of this sentence. Any employee who would be eligible for
    21  benefits under the shared work program due to his or her reduced  weekly
    22  hours  but  was  denied  a claim on or after March seventh, two thousand
    23  twenty, or who did not file a claim, is eligible to  file  a  claim  for
    24  lost hours work for each week beginning March eighth, two thousand twen-
    25  ty, if eligible under section six hundred five-a of this title.
    26    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.