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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4402--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 8, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. KENNEDY, BRESLIN, BRISPORT, BROUK, CLEARE, FERNAN-
DEZ, GONZALEZ, HARCKHAM, HINCHEY, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, MATTERA,
MURRAY, MYRIE, PALUMBO, RAMOS, SALAZAR, SCARCELLA-SPANTON, SKOUFIS,
STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Labor -- recommitted to the Committee on
Labor in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- 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
14 with the day after such strike or other industrial controversy was
15 terminated.
16 (b) Benefits shall not be suspended under this section if:
17 (i) The employer hires a permanent replacement worker for the employ-
18 ee's position. A replacement worker shall be presumed to be permanent
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01295-02-4
S. 4402--A 2
1 unless the employer certifies in writing that the employee will be able
2 to return to [his or her] such employee's prior position upon conclusion
3 of the strike, in the event the strike terminates prior to the conclu-
4 sion of the employee's eligibility for benefit rights under this chap-
5 ter. In the event the employer does not permit such return after such
6 certification, the employee shall be entitled to recover any benefits
7 lost as a result of the [two] one week suspension of benefits, and the
8 department may impose a penalty upon the employer of up to seven hundred
9 fifty dollars per employee per week of benefits lost. The penalty
10 collected shall be paid into the unemployment insurance control fund
11 established pursuant to section five hundred fifty-two-b of this arti-
12 cle; or
13 (ii) The commissioner determines that the claimant:
14 (A) is not employed by an employer that is involved in the industrial
15 controversy that caused [his or her] such claimant's unemployment and is
16 not participating in the industrial controversy; or
17 (B) is not in a bargaining unit involved in the industrial controversy
18 that caused [his or her] such claimant's unemployment and is not partic-
19 ipating in the industrial controversy.
20 3. Terms of suspension. [No] The waiting period [may] and suspension
21 period shall be served [during a suspension period] concurrently.
22 The suspension of accumulation of benefit rights shall not be termi-
23 nated by subsequent employment of the claimant irrespective of when the
24 claim is filed except as provided in subdivision one of this section and
25 shall not be confined to a single benefit year.
26 A "week" as used in subdivision one of this section means any seven
27 consecutive calendar days.
28 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
