Requires employers of retail, food service or cleaning employees to give such employees 7 days' notice of their work schedule and a month's notice of the minimum hours of work; provides a private right of action to employees who are aggrieved by certain violations of such provisions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4363--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 17, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sen. PERALTA -- 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 employee work schedules
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Article 5 of the labor law is amended by adding a new title
2 2 to read as follows:
3 TITLE 2
4 SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
5 Section 171. Definitions.
6 172. Advanced notice requirements.
7 173. Exchange of shifts.
8 174. Prohibited acts.
9 175. Exceptions.
10 176. Enforcement.
11 § 171. Definitions. As used in this title:
12 1. "Employer" shall mean any person, corporation, limited liability
13 company, limited liability partnership or association employing five
14 hundred or more full-time employees nationwide or a proportional number
15 of part-time employees, who employs a retail employee, food service
16 employee or cleaning employee.
17 2. "Employee" shall mean an individual employed as a retail employee,
18 food service employee or cleaning employee by an employer.
19 3. "Retail employee" shall mean any employee primarily engaged in the
20 sale of items at a retail store engaged in the sale of items to consum-
21 ers.
22 4. "Food service employee" shall mean any employee primarily engaged
23 in the service of food or beverage to guests, patrons or customers in
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09954-03-6
S. 4363--A 2
1 the hotel or restaurant industry, including but not limited to, wait
2 staff, bartenders, captains and busing personnel; and who regularly
3 receives tips from such guests, patrons or customers.
4 5. "Cleaning employee" shall mean any employee primarily engaged in
5 activities involving cleaning in a commercial context at a commercial or
6 residential setting including, but not limited to, janitors, maids,
7 housekeeping cleaners and building cleaners.
8 § 172. Advanced notice requirements. 1. On or before the first day of
9 employment of a retail employee, food service employee or cleaning
10 employee, the employer or its designee shall provide notice to such
11 employee in writing of the employee's work schedule and the minimum
12 number of hours the employee will be assigned on a monthly basis. Upon
13 the provisions of such notice to such an employee, the employer or its
14 designee shall obtain from the employee a signed and dated written
15 acknowledgement, in English and in the primary language of the employee,
16 of receipt of the notice, which the employer shall preserve and maintain
17 for a period of six years.
18 2. On or before the seventh day after the effective date of this
19 section and every seven days thereafter, each employer or its designee
20 shall provide each employee with the days that the employee has been
21 assigned to work and the hours of work on those days in writing. Sched-
22 uling notices shall additionally be posted in a conspicuous place in
23 every workplace of the employer and may be requested by electronic
24 means.
25 3. The provisions of this section shall not apply during any period
26 where regular operations of the employer are suspended as a result of
27 events beyond the employer's control.
28 § 173. Exchange of shifts. Any employees who work for the same employ-
29 er in the same or substantially similar line of work may mutually agree
30 to exchange work schedules between the two employees. For any change of
31 schedule as a result of this section, the employer shall not be required
32 to provide any notice to any other employees pursuant to section one
33 hundred seventy-two of this title.
34 § 174. Prohibited acts. It shall be unlawful for any employer to:
35 1. interfere with, restrain or deny the exercise of, or attempt to
36 exercise any rights provided to an employee by the provisions of this
37 title;
38 2. discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, reduce work
39 hours of or take any other adverse employment action against any employ-
40 ee who exercises or attempts to exercise any rights provided by this
41 title; or
42 3. discharge or discriminate in any other manner against an individual
43 because such individual has filed any charge, instituted any proceeding,
44 provided any information in connection with an investigation, or testi-
45 fied or is about to testify in any proceeding as a result of the
46 provisions of this title.
47 § 175. Exceptions. Nothing in this title shall be construed as prohib-
48 iting or conflicting with any provision of law, obligation or collective
49 bargaining agreement that imposes increased levels of protections for
50 employees.
51 § 176. Enforcement. 1. For each violation of this title by an employ-
52 er, the department may assess a civil penalty not to exceed fifty
53 dollars.
54 2. In addition to any penalty assessed by the department pursuant to
55 subdivision one of this section, any employee, who is not provided with
56 the notice required by subdivision one of section one hundred seventy-
S. 4363--A 3
1 two of this title on his or her first day of employment, shall have a
2 private right of action against his or her employer for damages equal to
3 fifty dollars for each work day, after the first day of employment,
4 during which the employee is not provided with the required notice, in
5 an amount in the aggregate not to exceed five thousand dollars, plus
6 court costs and attorney's fees.
7 3. In addition to any penalty assessed by the department pursuant to
8 subdivision one of this section, any employee, who during any month is
9 not scheduled to work the minimum hours of work for the month as stated
10 in the notice provided to such employee pursuant to subdivision one of
11 section one hundred seventy-two of this title, shall have a private
12 right of action against his or her employer for damages equal to the
13 employee's hourly pay rate multiplied by the number of hours which is
14 the result of subtracting the hours the employee actually worked during
15 the month from such employee's stated minimum hours of work for a month,
16 plus court costs and attorney's fees.
17 § 2. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or
18 part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdic-
19 tion to be invalid, this judgment shall not affect, impair, or invali-
20 date the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to
21 the clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part of this act directly
22 involved in the controversy in which the judgment shall have been
23 rendered.
24 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
25 have become a law.
