Bill Text: NY S05120 | 2013-2014 | General Assembly | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Prohibits work experience programs in New York.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-14 - PRINT NUMBER 5120A [S05120 Detail]
Download: New_York-2013-S05120-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Prohibits work experience programs in New York.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-14 - PRINT NUMBER 5120A [S05120 Detail]
Download: New_York-2013-S05120-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
5120
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
May 10, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sen. SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to prohibiting work
experience programs in New York
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 336 of the social services law, as
2 amended by section 148 of part B of chapter 436 of the laws of 1997,
3 paragraph (h) as amended by chapter 214 of the laws of 1998, is amended
4 to read as follows:
5 1. Social services districts may provide, and require applicants for
6 and recipients of public assistance to participate in a variety of
7 activities[, including but not] limited to ACTIVITIES WHICH WILL IMPROVE
8 THE RECIPIENT'S EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES, INCLUDING the following:
9 (a) unsubsidized employment;
10 (b) subsidized private sector employment;
11 (c) subsidized public sector employment;
12 [(d) work experience in the public sector or non-profit sector,
13 (including work associated with refurbishing publicly assisted housing)
14 if sufficient private sector employment is not available;]
15 (e) On-the-job training;
16 (f) job search and job readiness assistance, provided that job search
17 is an active and continuing effort to secure employment configured by
18 the local social services official;
19 (g) community service programs provided, however, the number of hours
20 a participant in community service activities authorized pursuant to
21 this section shall be required to work in such assignment shall not
22 exceed a number which equals the amount of assistance payable with
23 respect to such individual (inclusive of the value of food stamps
24 received by such individual, if any) divided by the higher of (a) the
25 federal minimum wage, or (b) the state minimum wage. No participant
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09776-01-3
S. 5120 2
1 shall in any case be required to engage in assigned activities for more
2 than forty hours in any week. No participant shall be assigned to a
3 community service activity that conflicts with his or her bona fide
4 religious beliefs; AND PROVIDED FURTHER THAT PARTICIPANTS SHALL BE
5 ALLOWED TO CHOOSE THE LOCATION IN WHICH THEY PERFORM COMMUNITY SERVICE;
6 (h) vocational educational training as time limited by federal law.
7 For the purposes of this title, "vocational educational training" shall
8 include but not be limited to organized educational programs offering a
9 sequence of courses which are directly related to the preparation of
10 individuals for current or emerging occupations requiring other than a
11 baccalaureate or advanced degree. Such programs shall include competen-
12 cy-based applied learning which contributes to an individual's academic
13 knowledge, higher-order reasoning, and problem-solving skills, work
14 attitudes, general employability skills, and the occupational-specific
15 skills necessary for economic independence. Such term also includes
16 applied technology education;
17 (i) job skills training directly related to employment;
18 (j) education directly related to employment, in the case of a recipi-
19 ent who has not yet received a high school diploma or a certificate of
20 high school equivalency;
21 (k) satisfactory attendance at secondary school or a course of study
22 leading to a certificate of general equivalency in the case of a recipi-
23 ent who has not completed secondary school or received such certificate;
24 (l) provision of child care services to an individual who is partic-
25 ipating in community service;
26 (m) job search and job readiness assistance once the individual has
27 exceeded the six week limit set in federal law;
28 (n) educational activities pursuant to section three hundred thirty-
29 six-a of this title.
30 S 2. Section 336-c of the social services law, as amended by section
31 148 of part B of chapter 436 of the laws of 1997, subdivision 4 as
32 amended by chapter 534 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as
33 follows:
34 S 336-c. Work experience. [1. (a)] Work experience programs [meeting
35 state and federal requirements may be established by social services
36 districts.
37 (b) Work experience programs may include the performance of work for a
38 federal office or agency, county, city, village or town or for the state
39 or in the operation of or in an activity of a nonprofit agency or insti-
40 tution, in accordance with the regulations of the department.
41 2. A recipient may be assigned to participate in such work experience
42 program only if:
43 (a) appropriate federal and state standards of health, safety and
44 other work conditions are maintained;
45 (b) The number of hours a participant in work experience activities
46 authorized pursuant to this section shall be required to work in such
47 assignment shall not exceed a number which equals the amount of assist-
48 ance payable with respect to such individual (inclusive of the value of
49 food stamps received by such individual, if any) divided by the higher
50 of (a) the federal minimum wage provided that such hours shall be limit-
51 ed as set forth in subdivision four of section three hundred thirty-six
52 of this title, or (b) the state minimum wage;
53 (c) such recipients are provided appropriate workers' compensation or
54 equivalent protection for on-the-job injuries and tort claims protection
55 on the same basis, but not necessarily at the same benefit level, as
S. 5120 3
1 they are provided to other persons in the same or similar positions,
2 while participating in work experience activities under this section;
3 (d) the project to which the participant is assigned serves a useful
4 public purpose in fields such as health, social services, environmental
5 protection, education, urban and rural development and redevelopment,
6 welfare, recreation, operation of public facilities, public safety, and
7 child day care;
8 (e) such assignment would not result in (i) the displacement of any
9 currently employed worker or loss of position (including partial
10 displacement such as reduction in the hours of non-overtime work, wages
11 or employment benefits) or result in the impairment of existing
12 contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; (ii) the
13 employment or assignment of a participant or the filling of a position
14 when any other person is on layoff from the same or any equivalent posi-
15 tion or the employer has terminated the employment of any regular
16 employee or otherwise reduced its workforce with the effect of filling
17 the vacancy so created with a participant assigned pursuant to this
18 section; (iii) any infringement of the promotional opportunities of any
19 current employed person; or (iv) the performance, by such participant,
20 of a substantial portion of the work ordinarily and actually performed
21 by regular employees; or (v) the loss of a bargaining unit position as a
22 result of work experience participants performing, in part or in whole,
23 the work normally performed by the employee in such position;
24 (f) such assignment is not at any work site at which the regular
25 employees are on a legal strike against the employer or are being
26 subjected to lock out by the employer.
27 3. The public employer shall publish on a monthly basis a report
28 summarizing the employer's work experience program for the month. Such
29 monthly report shall include, at a minimum, summary information regard-
30 ing the agencies or departments where participants are assigned, work
31 locations, job duties and assignments, hours worked and period worked
32 and shall be provided to the certified collective bargaining represen-
33 tative and may not be disclosed to any other party. Such certified
34 collective bargaining representative shall take reasonable steps to
35 protect the confidentiality of such information and shall take reason-
36 able steps to prevent disclosure of same to non-authorized persons.
37 Every report provided pursuant to this section shall contain a warning
38 against re-disclosure and asserting the confidentiality of the informa-
39 tion therein provided.
40 4. In assigning a recipient who is a non-graduate student attending
41 CUNY, SUNY or other approved non-profit education, training or voca-
42 tional rehabilitation agency, the social services district must, after
43 consultation with officials of CUNY, SUNY or other non-profit education,
44 training or vocational rehabilitation agency, assign the student to a
45 work site on campus, where the recipient is enrolled, and shall not
46 unreasonably assign the student to hours that conflict with the
47 student's academic schedule, if an approved work experience assignment
48 is available. Where such work experience assignment is not available,
49 the social services district shall, to the extent possible, assign the
50 student to a work site within reasonable proximity to the campus where
51 the recipient is enrolled and shall not unreasonably assign the student
52 to hours that conflict with the student's academic schedule. Provided,
53 however, in order to qualify for a work experience assignment on-campus,
54 or in close proximity to campus, a student must have a cumulative C
55 average, or its equivalent. The district may waive the requirement that
56 the student have a cumulative C average or its equivalent for undue
S. 5120 4
1 hardship based on: (i) the death of a relative of the student; (ii) the
2 personal injury or illness of the student; or (iii) other extenuating
3 circumstances] ARE PROHIBITED IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
4 S 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
5 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
