Bill Text: NY S00783 | 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 6-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO LABOR [S00783 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S00783-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           783

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (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:

     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.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03210-01-1
        S. 783                              2

     1    § 2. Section 604 of the labor law, as amended by section 21-a of  part
     2  O of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §  604. Eligibility conditions. A claimant shall be eligible for bene-
     4  fits under this title if he or she works less than  his  or  her  normal
     5  hours  in  a  week  for  his  customary  employer, and that employer has
     6  reduced or restricted the  claimant's  weekly  hours  of  work,  or  has
     7  rehired  a  claimant  previously  laid off and reduced his or her weekly
     8  hours of work from those previously worked, as the result of a  plan  by
     9  the  employer  to  stabilize  the work force by a program of sharing the
    10  work remaining after a reduction in total hours of  work  and  a  corre-
    11  sponding reduction in wages, provided the program requires not less than
    12  a  twenty  percent  nor more than a sixty percent reduction in hours and
    13  wages among the work force. A claimant receiving supplemental  unemploy-
    14  ment  compensation  benefits, as defined in section five hundred one (c)
    15  (17) (D) of the internal revenue code of  nineteen  hundred  fifty-four,
    16  shall not be eligible hereunder. Any employee who was otherwise eligible
    17  for  benefits under this title but was denied benefits during the period
    18  beginning October first, two thousand one and ending on December  first,
    19  two thousand one because more than five percent of his or her wages were
    20  derived  from  piece work, shall be entitled to make a retroactive claim
    21  for such benefits provided such claim is filed within sixty days of  the
    22  effective  date of this sentence. Any employee who would be eligible for
    23  benefits under the shared work program due to his or her reduced  weekly
    24  hours  but  was  denied  a claim on or after March seventh, two thousand
    25  twenty, or who did not file a claim, is eligible to  file  a  claim  for
    26  lost hours work for each week beginning March eighth, two thousand twen-
    27  ty, if eligible under section six hundred five-a of this title.
    28    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.