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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7615--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 4, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
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.
22 (b) The term "part-time employee" means an employee who is employed
23 for an average of fewer than twenty hours per week or who has been
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11210-02-7
A. 7615--A 2
1 employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the date on
2 which notice is required under this article.
3 § 771. List of relocated call centers. 1. A call center employer that
4 intends to relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or operat-
5 ing units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent of the
6 call center's, or operating unit's, total volume when measured against
7 the previous twelve month average call volume of operations or substan-
8 tially similar operations, from New York state to a foreign country
9 shall notify the commissioner at least one hundred days before such
10 relocation.
11 2. A call center employer that violates subdivision one of this
12 section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand
13 dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may
14 reduce such amount for just cause shown.
15 3. The commissioner shall compile a semiannual list of all call center
16 employers that relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or
17 operating units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent
18 of the call center's total volume of operations, from New York state to
19 a foreign country.
20 4. The commissioner shall distribute the list required in this section
21 to all agencies in the state.
22 § 772. Grants, guaranteed loans and tax benefits. 1. Except as
23 provided in subdivision three of this section and notwithstanding any
24 other provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the list
25 described in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall be
26 ineligible for any direct or indirect state grants, state guaranteed
27 loans, tax benefits or other financial governmental support for a period
28 of five years from the date such list is published.
29 2. Except as provided in subdivision three of this section and
30 notwithstanding any other provision of law, a call center employer that
31 appears on the list described in section seven hundred seventy-one of
32 this article shall remit the unamortized value of any grant or guaran-
33 teed loans, or any tax benefits or other governmental support it has
34 previously received to the commissioner. The provisions of this subdivi-
35 sion shall apply to grants, loans, tax benefits and financial govern-
36 mental assistance that is received on or after the effective date of
37 this article.
38 3. The commissioner, in consultation with the appropriate agency
39 providing a loan or grant, may waive the requirement provided under
40 subdivision two of this section if the employer demonstrates that such
41 requirement would:
42 (a) threaten state or national security;
43 (b) result in substantial job loss in the state of New York; or
44 (c) harm the environment.
45 § 773. Procurement contracts. The head of each state agency shall
46 ensure that all state-business-related call center and customer service
47 work be performed by state contractors or other agents or subcontractors
48 entirely within the state of New York. State contractors who currently
49 perform such work outside the state of New York shall have two years
50 following the effective date of this article to comply with this
51 section; provided, that if any such contractors which perform work
52 outside this state adds customer service employees who will perform work
53 on such contracts, those new employees shall immediately be employed
54 within the state of New York.
55 § 774. State benefits for workers. No provision of this article shall
56 be construed to permit withholding or denial of payments, compensation,
A. 7615--A 3
1 or benefits under any other state law, including but not limited to
2 state unemployment compensation, disability payments or worker retrain-
3 ing or readjustment funds, to workers employed by employers that relo-
4 cate to a foreign country.
5 § 775. No private right of action. Nothing set forth in this article
6 shall be construed as creating, establishing, or authorizing a private
7 cause of action by an aggrieved person against an employer who has
8 violated, or is alleged to have violated, any provision of this article.
9 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
10 it shall have become a law.
