Rpld Arts 24 & 25, add Art 25 SS856 - 856-g, Lab L
Establishes a youth employment program to create part-time employment opportunities for 10,000 eligible high school students between the ages of 14 and 19 in community settings such as non-profit agencies, youth centers, social service agencies and senior citizen centers, enabling such youths from low income families to earn additional income and make valuable contributions to the community; appropriates $14,000,000 therefor.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5554
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 13, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. V. LOPEZ, GANTT, CLARK, SWEENEY -- Multi-Spon-
sored by -- M. of A. HOYT, LENTOL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to establishing a youth
employment program and to repeal articles 24 and 25 of such law relat-
ing thereto and making an appropriation therefor
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Articles 24 and 25 of the labor law, article 24 as added by
2 chapter 64 of the laws of 1977, are REPEALED and a new article 25 is
3 added to read as follows:
4 ARTICLE 25
5 YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM
6 Section 856. Legislative findings.
7 856-a. Placement of youths.
8 856-b. Eligibility.
9 856-c. Reimbursement period and employer authority.
10 856-d. Displacement clause.
11 856-e. Participating employer selection.
12 856-f. Cooperation of the office of children and family services
13 and department of education.
14 856-g. Assistance of voluntary agencies.
15 § 856. Legislative findings. Recent unemployment figures, while show-
16 ing some improvement in the nation's and the state's unemployment rate,
17 at the same time show a staggering level of unemployment among youths
18 and particularly from minorities. The state has a responsibility to try
19 to deal with this problem. While the resources that are needed to deal
20 with it effectively are beyond the state's capabilities, the state can
21 commit some resources particularly in a year when there may be a budget
22 surplus and proposals for tax cuts to reduce the high rate of unemploy-
23 ment among youths.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08859-01-9
A. 5554 2
1 The following program is established to fund a youth on-the-job train-
2 ing program. This program can cut unemployment among teenagers and young
3 adults and show the way to a more ambitious program for which federal
4 funds might be secured. The outline of the program is as follows:
5 1. To place youths between the ages of fourteen through nineteen in
6 jobs in a community setting, such as non-profit agencies, youth centers,
7 social services agencies and senior citizen centers.
8 2. To locate such jobs and allow for an annual maximum of ten thousand
9 eligible high school students to work for ten hours a week at a rate of
10 five dollars and fifty cents per hour.
11 3. The program will be administered through the department which will
12 contract with private voluntary agencies and/or local youth boards to
13 locate jobs and provide support services.
14 4. A remedial education and training program will be set up for
15 participating youths.
16 5. Fourteen million dollars of state funds should be appropriated to
17 fund the program which could provide up to ten thousand employment
18 opportunities.
19 6. Participating employers shall not dismiss a currently employed
20 worker, nor shall the work time, wages or benefits of any person
21 employed be reduced in order to accommodate a youth trainee.
22 The legislature further finds that the high unemployment rate among
23 young people, and particularly among minorities, requires a concerted
24 and substantial governmental effort aimed at helping this age group and
25 especially those persons who, because of location and background, find
26 it particularly difficult (if not impossible) to locate employment.
27 The use of fourteen million dollars in state funds can provide a mean-
28 ingful program to attack unemployment among youths by making it econom-
29 ically feasible for participating employers to hire and train unem-
30 ployed, disadvantaged youths.
31 The youth on-the-job training program will not require participating
32 agencies and centers to restructure their operations but merely to hire
33 the youth and afford him or her the opportunity to obtain gainful
34 employment and training in the particular skills of the trade, thus
35 enabling the youth to become a valuable asset to the company and to
36 enter into and remain within the mainstream of employment.
37 § 856-a. Placement of youths. The department through the youth on-the-
38 job training program shall seek to place youths in various jobs in a
39 community setting, such as non-profit agencies, youth centers, social
40 services agencies and senior citizen centers by providing reimbursement
41 to such participating employers to compensate them for the additional
42 expenses and lost productivity directly attributable to carrying out the
43 purposes of the program. Such funds shall be paid to the participating
44 employer pursuant to individual contracts entered into between a partic-
45 ipating employer and the local county youth offices or private voluntary
46 agencies acting under contract with the department.
47 All wages to be paid to the youth trainees shall be at a rate of five
48 dollars and fifty cents per hour for a maximum of ten hours a week.
49 § 856-b. Eligibility. 1. To be eligible to participate in a program
50 under this article a person must be:
51 a. between the ages of fourteen and nineteen years;
52 b. from a family the annual income of which does not exceed nine thou-
53 sand dollars for a family of three, or one thousand dollars for each
54 additional family member.
55 2. The commissioner may, for good cause shown, provide for the waiver
56 of any of the above qualifications and the establishment of local vari-
A. 5554 3
1 ations in family income criteria by the local contract agency. Such
2 waiver or local variation shall be issued in writing and shall set out
3 the reasons why the waiver or local variation is necessary to carry out
4 the specific program purposes.
5 § 856-c. Reimbursement period and employer authority. 1. Any partic-
6 ipating employer shall be reimbursed directly pursuant to the terms of
7 his or her contract for a maximum period of thirty weeks. Any unauthor-
8 ized resignation by a youth from the program shall be reviewed by the
9 commissioner and a determination made as to whether the youth should be
10 permitted to continue in the program or be permanently dropped.
11 2. An employer shall have full authority over his or her trainee and
12 shall have the same authority to dismiss a youth trainee as he or she
13 would any other employee. The youth trainee shall have the protection of
14 the same safeguards against dismissal as any other employee.
15 § 856-d. Displacement clause. All contracts relative to the youth
16 on-the-job training program shall expressly state that those employers
17 participating in the program shall not dismiss a currently employed
18 worker, nor shall the work time, wages or benefits of any persons
19 employed be reduced in order to accommodate a youth trainee.
20 § 856-e. Participating employer selection. 1. The program shall
21 seek to place young people in those agencies and centers located in or
22 near their resident towns or cities.
23 2. A participating employer shall not be bound under the program to
24 provide the youth with work beyond the reimbursement period, provided,
25 however, that employers shall be encouraged to do so.
26 § 856-f. Cooperation of the office of children and family services
27 and department of education. The department shall, to whatever extent it
28 deems advisable, coordinate the involvement of the office of children
29 and family services in the implementation and monitoring, and of the
30 education department in the vocational and remedial education aspects of
31 the program.
32 § 856-g. Assistance of voluntary agencies. The local voluntary agen-
33 cies with which the department contracts shall provide necessary train-
34 ing and educational functions. In selecting the particular local volun-
35 tary institutions with which to contract, the department shall, wherever
36 possible, contract only with those agencies that already have an estab-
37 lished record of providing satisfactory services. If no such agency
38 exists, the department may establish such supporting system, either on
39 its own initiative or by supporting and encouraging the creation of new
40 voluntary agencies specifically for that purpose.
41 § 2. The sum of fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000), or so much
42 thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated to the department of
43 labor from any moneys in the state treasury in the general fund to the
44 credit of the state purposes account not otherwise appropriated for
45 services and expenses of the department for the purposes of carrying out
46 the provisions of this act. Such sum shall be payable on the audit and
47 warrant of the state comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by
48 the commissioner of labor, or his or her duly designated representative
49 in the manner provided by law.
50 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
51 the date on which it shall have become a law.
