Bill Text: NY S06476 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Directs state agencies to submit reports detailing their telework policies; permits input from employees anonymously; directs the department of civil service to compile reports and submit a single report to the legislature.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-03-11 - referred to labor [S06476 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S06476-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6476--B 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE April 21, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. GONZALEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Internet and Technology -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading -- recommitted to the Committee on Internet and Technology in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT directing a state agency telework report 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 "State agency telework report act". 3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature takes notice of the growing 4 practice of the use of telework as a future form of work away from the 5 principal place of employment. Telecommuting is being used more and more 6 by businesses as a way to save money for employers by reducing contrib- 7 utions to workers' compensation premiums, allowing more freedom for a 8 balance between work and family life for employees, reducing air 9 pollution and traffic congestion, reducing absenteeism, and accommodat- 10 ing those who are disabled. 11 Teleworking warrants further research to enable the state to move a 12 step closer to using it as a way to save taxpayer's money, while also 13 benefiting the state and its employees. 14 § 3. Definitions. As used in this act, the following terms shall have 15 the following meanings: 16 (a) "State agency" means any state department, board, bureau, divi- 17 sion, commission, committee, public authority, public benefit corpo- 18 ration, council, office, or other governmental entity performing a 19 governmental or proprietary function for the state. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07723-04-4S. 6476--B 2 1 (b) "Telework" means to perform normal and regular work functions on a 2 workday that ordinarily would be performed at the state agency's offi- 3 cial principal location or locations, at a different location. 4 § 4. State agency telework report. (a) Each state agency shall submit 5 a report to the department of civil service by July 1, 2025 which shall 6 contain the following: 7 (i) Number of employees that teleworked in 2024; 8 (ii) Job titles that teleworked in 2024; 9 (iii) Number of days teleworked by anonymized employee in 2024; 10 (iv) Number of days teleworked by job title in 2024; 11 (v) Any benefits of telework remarked by the agency; 12 (vi) Any disadvantages of telework remarked by the agency; and 13 (vii) A copy of the agency's official telework policy, if any, includ- 14 ing how employees and job titles are chosen for telework. 15 In addition, each state agency shall allow employees to anonymously 16 submit their opinions of the agency's telecommuting policy, or lack 17 thereof, which the agencies shall include in the telework state agency 18 report due to the department of civil service and which shall be summa- 19 rized in the finalized report compiled by the department of civil 20 service pursuant to subdivision (b) of this section. 21 (b) On or before September 1, 2025 the department of civil service 22 shall provide a report compiling all the agency telework reports and 23 submit such compiled report to the speaker of the assembly and the 24 temporary president of the senate. 25 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
