Bill Text: NY S06282 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Enacts the "save 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: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 32-11)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS [S06282 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S06282-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         6282--A
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                      May 11, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced by Sens. BOYLE, BAILEY, BROOKS, KENNEDY, PARKER -- read twice
          and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
          on   Energy  and  Telecommunications  --  committee  discharged,  bill
          amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said  commit-
          tee
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the labor law, in relation to enacting the "save 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 "save 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                     SAVE 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.
    10          773. Procurement contracts.
    11          774. State benefits for workers.
    12          775. No private right of action.
    13    § 770. Definitions. As used in this article:
    14    1.  The term "call center" means a facility or other operation whereby
    15  employees receive phone calls or other electronic communication for  the
    16  purpose of providing customer assistance or other service.
    17    2.  (a)  The  term  "employer"  means any business entity that employs
    18  fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or fifty or more
    19  employees that in the aggregate work at least fifteen hundred hours  per
    20  week,  excluding  overtime  hours,  for  the  purpose of staffing a call
    21  center.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11210-03-7
        S. 6282--A                          2
     1    (b) The term "part-time employee" means an employee  who  is  employed
     2  for  an  average  of  fewer  than  twenty hours per week or who has been
     3  employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the  date  on
     4  which notice is required under this article.
     5    § 771. List of relocated call centers.  1. A call center employer that
     6  intends  to relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or operat-
     7  ing units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent of the
     8  call center's, or operating unit's, total volume when  measured  against
     9  the  previous twelve month average call volume of operations or substan-
    10  tially similar operations, from New York  state  to  a  foreign  country
    11  shall  notify  the  commissioner  at  least one hundred days before such
    12  relocation.
    13    2. A call center  employer  that  violates  subdivision  one  of  this
    14  section  shall  be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand
    15  dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may
    16  reduce such amount for just cause shown.
    17    3. The commissioner shall compile a semiannual list of all call center
    18  employers that relocate a call center, or  one  or  more  facilities  or
    19  operating  units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent
    20  of the call center's total volume of operations, from New York state  to
    21  a foreign country.
    22    4. The commissioner shall distribute the list required in this section
    23  to all agencies in the state.
    24    §  772.  Grants,  guaranteed  loans  and  tax  benefits.  1. Except as
    25  provided in subdivision three of this section  and  notwithstanding  any
    26  other  provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the list
    27  described in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall  be
    28  ineligible  for  any  direct  or indirect state grants, state guaranteed
    29  loans, tax benefits or other financial governmental support for a period
    30  of five years from the date such list is published.
    31    2. Except as  provided  in  subdivision  three  of  this  section  and
    32  notwithstanding  any other provision of law, a call center employer that
    33  appears on the list described in section seven  hundred  seventy-one  of
    34  this  article  shall remit the unamortized value of any grant or guaran-
    35  teed loans, or any tax benefits or other  governmental  support  it  has
    36  previously received to the commissioner. The provisions of this subdivi-
    37  sion  shall  apply  to grants, loans, tax benefits and financial govern-
    38  mental assistance that is received on or after  the  effective  date  of
    39  this article.
    40    3.  The  commissioner,  in  consultation  with  the appropriate agency
    41  providing a loan or grant, may  waive  the  requirement  provided  under
    42  subdivision  two  of this section if the employer demonstrates that such
    43  requirement would:
    44    (a) threaten state or national security;
    45    (b) result in substantial job loss in the state of New York; or
    46    (c) harm the environment.
    47    § 773. Procurement contracts. The head  of  each  state  agency  shall
    48  ensure  that all state-business-related call center and customer service
    49  work be performed by state contractors or other agents or subcontractors
    50  entirely within the state of New York. State contractors  who  currently
    51  perform  such  work  outside  the state of New York shall have two years
    52  following the effective  date  of  this  article  to  comply  with  this
    53  section;  provided,  that  if  any  such  contractors which perform work
    54  outside this state adds customer service employees who will perform work
    55  on such contracts, those new employees  shall  immediately  be  employed
    56  within the state of New York.
        S. 6282--A                          3
     1    §  774. State benefits for workers. No provision of this article shall
     2  be construed to permit withholding or denial of payments,  compensation,
     3  or  benefits  under  any  other  state law, including but not limited to
     4  state unemployment compensation, disability payments or worker  retrain-
     5  ing  or  readjustment funds, to workers employed by employers that relo-
     6  cate to a foreign country.
     7    § 775. No private right of action. Nothing set forth in  this  article
     8  shall  be  construed as creating, establishing, or authorizing a private
     9  cause of action by an aggrieved  person  against  an  employer  who  has
    10  violated, or is alleged to have violated, any provision of this article.
    11    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    12  it shall have become a law.