Allows employers to participate in the shared work program under the unemployment insurance law retroactively to the date of the COVID-19 declared emergency.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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10392
IN ASSEMBLY
May 4, 2020
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Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to the participation in the
shared work program under the unemployment insurance law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 605-a to
2 read as follows:
3 § 605-a. Retroactive eligibility for certain employers during the
4 COVID-19 declared emergency. 1. Any employer who has otherwise met the
5 requirements set forth in section six hundred five of this title and who
6 has reduced hours to employees on or after the issuance of executive
7 order 202 on March seventh, two thousand twenty, will be automatically
8 and retroactively deemed an eligible shared work employer under this
9 title and any employee whose work hours have been reduced as a result of
10 the COVID-19 declared emergency shall be eligible for partial unemploy-
11 ment according to the provisions of the this title.
12 2. The commissioner shall notify eligible employers by mail of their
13 retroactive eligibility and automatic enrollment into the shared work
14 program due to the COVID-19 declared state of emergency, along with a
15 description of the shared work program and the eligibility of their
16 current or former employees for partial benefits, as well as the appli-
17 cation and guidance on how eligible employers can complete and submit an
18 application to enroll in the program. Any employer enrolled in the
19 shared work program under this provision shall continue to be enrolled
20 until the COVID-19 declared state of emergency concludes and such
21 employers and employees shall be exempt from the requirement to complete
22 a weekly continuation claim form.
23 § 2. Section 604 of the labor law, as amended by section 21-a of part
24 O of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
25 § 604. Eligibility conditions. A claimant shall be eligible for bene-
26 fits under this title if he or she works less than his or her normal
27 hours in a week for his customary employer, and that employer has
28 reduced or restricted the claimant's weekly hours of work, or has
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16162-02-0
A. 10392 2
1 rehired a claimant previously laid off and reduced his or her weekly
2 hours of work from those previously worked, as the result of a plan by
3 the employer to stabilize the work force by a program of sharing the
4 work remaining after a reduction in total hours of work and a corre-
5 sponding reduction in wages, provided the program requires not less than
6 a twenty percent nor more than a sixty percent reduction in hours and
7 wages among the work force. A claimant receiving supplemental unemploy-
8 ment compensation benefits, as defined in section five hundred one (c)
9 (17) (D) of the internal revenue code of nineteen hundred fifty-four,
10 shall not be eligible hereunder. Any employee who was otherwise eligible
11 for benefits under this title but was denied benefits during the period
12 beginning October first, two thousand one and ending on December first,
13 two thousand one because more than five percent of his or her wages were
14 derived from piece work, shall be entitled to make a retroactive claim
15 for such benefits provided such claim is filed within sixty days of the
16 effective date of this sentence. Any employee who would be eligible for
17 benefits under the shared work program due to his or her reduced weekly
18 hours but was denied a claim on or after March seventh, two thousand
19 twenty, or who did not file a claim, is eligible to file a claim for
20 lost hours work for each week beginning March eighth, two thousand twen-
21 ty, if eligible under section six hundred five-a of this title.
22 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
