Requires employers to authorize absence from or lateness to work if such absence or lateness was due to responding to an emergency as a volunteer firefighter or ambulance worker.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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1660
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 9, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sen. GRISANTI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting an employer
from terminating an employee who also is a volunteer firefighter or a
volunteer provider of emergency medical services when that employee
misses or is late to work because of an emergency to which the employ-
ee was dispatched
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 202-l to
2 read as follows:
3 § 202-l. Authorized absence. 1. If an employee is absent from or late
4 to his or her employment due to his or her engaging in the actual
5 performance of his or her duties as (a) a volunteer firefighter, or (b)
6 an enrolled member of a volunteer ambulance service pursuant to article
7 thirty of the public health law, an employer shall be prohibited from
8 terminating such employee solely on the basis of such absence or late-
9 ness.
10 2. The entire period of the authorized absence may be charged against
11 any other leave such employee is otherwise entitled to, and such author-
12 ized absence shall include travel both to and from such duties performed
13 in his or her capacity as a volunteer. At the employer's request the
14 employee must provide the employer with a statement from the head of the
15 volunteer firefighter or volunteer ambulance service, as applicable,
16 stating the employee responded to an emergency at the time of such
17 response.
18 3. In the event that the employee does not have accrued time to offset
19 any time lost in an emergency response the employer must either, at its
20 option:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04129-01-3
S. 1660 2
1 (a) grant at least three hours of authorized absence in any twelve
2 month period to an employee who has engaged in a volunteer response; or
3 (b) allow its employees without use of accumulated leave time an
4 authorized absence for volunteer response during work hours at least two
5 times per calendar year.
6 4. The commissioner is hereby authorized to establish any necessary
7 guidelines, including requirements for documentation of the emergency
8 response, validation of accrued leave, and the conditions of dismissal
9 and procedures for an employee to seek reinstatement and reimbursement
10 if dismissed on the basis of an authorized absence.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
