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A07373 Summary:

BILL NOA07373
 
SAME ASSAME AS S00017-A
 
SPONSORBronson
 
COSPNSRMcDonald, Abbate, Galef, Jacobson, Simon
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add §605-a, Lab L
 
Authorizes employees to petition an employer to apply to participate in a shared work program for purposes of avoiding a reduction in workforce or for purposes of re-hiring.
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A07373 Actions:

BILL NOA07373
 
05/06/2021referred to labor
05/24/2021reported referred to codes
06/02/2021reported referred to rules
06/07/2021reported
06/07/2021rules report cal.473
06/07/2021substituted by s17a
 S00017 AMEND=A MAYER
 01/06/2021REFERRED TO LABOR
 02/04/2021AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO LABOR
 02/04/2021PRINT NUMBER 17A
 02/09/20211ST REPORT CAL.360
 02/10/20212ND REPORT CAL.
 02/22/2021ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
 03/01/2021PASSED SENATE
 03/01/2021DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
 03/01/2021referred to labor
 06/07/2021substituted for a7373
 06/07/2021ordered to third reading rules cal.473
 06/07/2021passed assembly
 06/07/2021returned to senate
 10/13/2021DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR
 10/23/2021SIGNED CHAP.493
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A07373 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7373
 
SPONSOR: Bronson
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the labor law, in relation to authorizing employees to petition an employer to apply to participate in a shared work program for purposes of avoiding a reduction in workforce or for purposes of re-hiring   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To provide employees with a right to petition their employer to consider a shared work program in lieu of layoffs, or for purposes of re-hiring laid off employees.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 provides that a majority of the employees of an employer may petition an employer, in writing, within ten days after a layoff, or in advance of a layoff if there is a good faith expectation of a layoff, to implement a shared work program for purposes of avoiding such layoff or to enable re-hiring of laid off workers. The employer would have to respond in writing within seven days. In no event would an employer be permitted to discriminate, retaliate, or take other adverse action against any employee for exercising this petitioning right. Section 2 provides the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: Shared work programs allow employers to reduce employee hours across the board in order to avoid layoffs. The state then makes up the loss of wages resulting from those reduced working hours through unemployment insurance assistance. However, unlike other countries, particularly in Europe, where shared work has been implemented widely to avoid job loss- es, the United States, despite having shared work programs available, has not seen significant uptake. This bill encourages broader use of shared work programs by granting employees a right to petition their employer to implement a shared work program in order to avoid layoffs, or to re-hire laid off workers, thus creating another avenue by which employers may be made aware of the option and encouraging its use. While the employer would have to respond in writing to such a petition, there would be no obligation to implement a shared work program. Furthermore, because the bill would bar any retaliatory action for petitioning, workers would be protected against retaliation when bringing the program to their employer's attention. This bill is particularly salient in the time of state-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, continued concerns about infection, and other consider- ations that limit the ability of many businesses to re-open at full strength. Rather than these businesses only re-hiring a portion of their workforce, shared work programs would allow a business to re-hire the entire slate of pre-closure workers (or a larger portion than they otherwise would) at reduced hours. This would result in more workers being re-employed and reduced unemployment insurance benefit costs, and businesses would have the benefit of maintaining existing relationships with more workers, so that when they eventually open back up at full capacity, they can avoid the transaction costs of having to make and train new hires. The United States Department of Labor recently issued guidance making clear that shared work programs can be used for purposes of re-opening the economy through the re-hiring of laid off workers, and suggests that such use would be beneficial to both businesses and work- ers. This bill provides one more tool for workers to help themselves get back to work and to help their employers renew the integrity of pre-closure operations and avoid future layoffs.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.
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