BILL NUMBER: S7344

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the labor law, in relation to written notice require-
ments for mass layoffs

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 1 of section 860-b of the labor law to add
as additional recipients of required WARN Act notice: (1) each locality
to which the employer paid taxes in the current year or the preceding
year, including municipalities and school districts, and

(2) each locality that provides emergency services to properties of the
employer where there is employment loss.

Section 2 sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:
              

On December 23, 2019, the Doral Arrowwood Resort in the Village of Rye
Brook informed the Department of Labor and the Village of Rye Brook that
it would be shutting down on January 12,2020, just 20 days later. It
provided notice of this event to its approximately 275 employees the
next day, Christmas Eve. While the Doral Arrowwood provided notice to
the Village of Rye Brook in order to comply with federal WARN Act
requirements, many officials from other communities in the area, despite
such communities being deeply affected, discovered the situation as a
result of reports in the press. The surrounding communities and the
Blind Brook School District collectively relied on nearly $2,000,000 in
tax revenue from the Doral Arrowwood, and the Doral Arrowwood provided
certain maintenance services for adjacent developments. In addition,
existing hotel facilities such as an on-site cogeneration facility,
swimming pool, maintenance materials (including fuel and compressed
gas), and stocked kitchen and bars presented significant maintenance and
health and safety issues.

The federal WARN Act requires the employer to provide notice to the unit
of local government in which the employer is located (and in the case of
multiple such units of government, to the one to which the highest taxes
were paid in the preceding year). The New York WARN Act has no require-
ment that affected communities be notified, despite the scale and far-
reaching effects of situations that trigger WARN Act compliance.  This
lack of notice presents risks in that, among other matters, (1) the
communities may have to address health and safety dangers with respect
to a large abandoned property, and (2) loss of revenue may require
significant and immediate budgetary changes.

This bill requires employers with WARN Act notice obligations to notify
affected communities and school districts(in addition to the existing
requirement to notify employees, the Department of Labor, and local
workforce investment boards) to ensure that these communities are aware
of mass layoffs, plant closings, and major relocations. Receiving notice
of these situations at the same time as other WARN Act notice recipients
will enable these communities to react sooner and more effectively to
manage situations such as the closing of the Doral Arrowwood that have a

significant impact on the well-being of their residents, essential
service obligations, and revenue.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately