Relates to decreasing the length of the suspension period applicable to certain individuals who lose their jobs due to a labor dispute, such as a strike, and who seek to obtain unemployment insurance benefits; decreases the suspension period from two consecutive weeks to one week; provides that the waiting period and suspension period shall be served concurrently.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1443A
SPONSOR: Wallace TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to decreasing the length of
the suspension period applicable to certain striking workers who seek to
obtain unemployment insurance benefits
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill reduces the amount of time that workers on strike must wait
prior to receiving unemployment insurance benefits.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill reduces, from two consecutive weeks to one week,
the period during which the accumulation of unemployment benefit rights
is suspended for a claimant who loses their employment due to strike or
other industrial controversies, including concerted activity not author-
ized or sanctioned by the recognized or certified bargaining agent of
the claimant, and other concerted activity conducted in violation of any
existing collective bargaining agreement, in the establishment in which
the claimant was employed.
Section 1 also provides that the requisite waiting period may be served
concurrently with the suspension period.
Section 2 sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Until February of 2020, striking workers in New York were required to
wait 7 weeks before collecting unemployment insurance benefits. While
New York has reduced the 49-day suspension period, unionized workers
still do not have parity when it comes to unemployment insurance bene-
fits, the current two-week suspension period is not imposed on other
unemployed individuals seeking UI benefits.
Requiring workers on strike to wait any additional amount of time beyond
what other UI claimants experience before they are eligible to claim UI
benefits places an undue financial hardship on workers exercising their
legally guaranteed rights to organize, bargain collectively, and strike.
By aligning the amount of time that a UI benefits claimant on strike
must wait with the waiting period applicable to other claimants, the
financial hardship experienced by striking workers will be lessened.
Recently, a strike by nurses in the City of Buffalo lasted for over one
month, meaning nearly half of the strike period did not qualify for UI
benefits. This left striking workers at a disadvantage, forcing the
union to drain their strike fund and workers to risk missing mortgage or
rent payments. While the decrease in the suspension period has helped,
it still leaves workers at a disadvantage for the first two weeks of the
strike. In addition, any administrative delays in receiving their UI
benefits once they do qualify only increases the financial pain
inflicted on striking workers. By decreasing the suspension period to
one week, workers will have the financial security they need to put food
on the table and keep a roof over their head while fighting for the
wages, benefits, and working conditions they deserve.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A9540/S8130 - Referred to Labor/Passed Senate
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1443--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 17, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALLACE, SEPTIMO, MAMDANI, SANTABARBARA, BURDICK,
JACOBSON, GALLAGHER, MORINELLO, RAMOS, LUNSFORD, RIVERA, STIRPE,
NORRIS, JENSEN, GRAY, SAYEGH, BRONSON, FORREST, ZEBROWSKI, CONRAD,
McMAHON, STECK, THIELE, BURKE, RAGA, CLARK, CHANG, REYES,
DE LOS SANTOS, SHIMSKY, SILLITTI, GIBBS, SIMONE, WOERNER, BORES,
SOLAGES, BRABENEC, SHRESTHA, CARROLL, LEE, JEAN-PIERRE, SEAWRIGHT,
DURSO, DeSTEFANO, GUNTHER, HEVESI, STERN, ALVAREZ, DICKENS, TAPIA,
L. ROSENTHAL, DARLING, CRUZ, PAULIN, EPSTEIN, DINOWITZ, REILLY, KIM,
WEPRIN, GALLAHAN, BURGOS, BENDETT, MEEKS, O'DONNELL, GONZALEZ-ROJAS --
read once and referred to the Committee on Labor -- recommitted to the
Committee on Labor in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to decreasing the length of
the suspension period applicable to certain striking workers who seek
to obtain unemployment insurance benefits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 592 of the labor law, as
2 amended by chapter 20 of the laws of 2020, are amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. Industrial controversy. (a) The accumulation of benefit rights by a
5 claimant shall be suspended during a period of [two consecutive weeks]
6 one week beginning with the day after such claimant lost [his or her]
7 their employment because of a strike or other industrial controversy
8 except for lockouts, including concerted activity not authorized or
9 sanctioned by the recognized or certified bargaining agent of the claim-
10 ant, and other concerted activity conducted in violation of any existing
11 collective bargaining agreement, in the establishment in which [he or
12 she] such claimant was employed, except that benefit rights may be accu-
13 mulated before the expiration of such [two] one week period beginning
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01295-03-4
A. 1443--A 2
1 with the day after such strike or other industrial controversy was
2 terminated.
3 (b) Benefits shall not be suspended under this section if:
4 (i) The employer hires a permanent replacement worker for the employ-
5 ee's position. A replacement worker shall be presumed to be permanent
6 unless the employer certifies in writing that the employee will be able
7 to return to [his or her] such employee's prior position upon conclusion
8 of the strike, in the event the strike terminates prior to the conclu-
9 sion of the employee's eligibility for benefit rights under this chap-
10 ter. In the event the employer does not permit such return after such
11 certification, the employee shall be entitled to recover any benefits
12 lost as a result of the [two] one week suspension of benefits, and the
13 department may impose a penalty upon the employer of up to seven hundred
14 fifty dollars per employee per week of benefits lost. The penalty
15 collected shall be paid into the unemployment insurance control fund
16 established pursuant to section five hundred fifty-two-b of this arti-
17 cle; or
18 (ii) The commissioner determines that the claimant:
19 (A) is not employed by an employer that is involved in the industrial
20 controversy that caused [his or her] such claimant's unemployment and is
21 not participating in the industrial controversy; or
22 (B) is not in a bargaining unit involved in the industrial controversy
23 that caused [his or her] such claimant's unemployment and is not partic-
24 ipating in the industrial controversy.
25 3. Terms of suspension. [No] The waiting period [may] and suspension
26 period shall be served [during a suspension period] concurrently.
27 The suspension of accumulation of benefit rights shall not be termi-
28 nated by subsequent employment of the claimant irrespective of when the
29 claim is filed except as provided in subdivision one of this section and
30 shall not be confined to a single benefit year.
31 A "week" as used in subdivision one of this section means any seven
32 consecutive calendar days.
33 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
