S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7310
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 17, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to increasing the  length  of
   the  suspension period applicable to certain striking workers who seek
   to obtain unemployment insurance benefits
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivisions  1 and 3 of section 592 of the labor law, as
 amended by a chapter of the laws of 2019 amending the labor law relating
 to decreasing the length of the suspension period applicable to  certain
 striking  workers who seek to obtain unemployment insurance benefits, as
 proposed in legislative bills numbers S.4573 and A.6592, are amended  to
 read as follows:
   1. Industrial controversy. (a) The accumulation of benefit rights by a
 claimant  shall  be  suspended during a period of [one week] TWO CONSEC-
 UTIVE WEEKS beginning with the day after such claimant lost his  or  her
 employment  because  of  a strike or other industrial controversy except
 for lockouts, including concerted activity not authorized or  sanctioned
 by  the  recognized  or  certified bargaining agent of the claimant, and
 other concerted activity conducted in violation of any existing  collec-
 tive  bargaining  agreement, in the establishment in which he or she was
 employed, except that benefit rights may be accumulated before the expi-
 ration of such [one] TWO week period beginning with the day  after  such
 strike or other industrial controversy was terminated.
   (b) Benefits shall not be suspended under this section if:
   (i)  The employer hires a permanent replacement worker for the employ-
 ee's position. A replacement worker shall be presumed  to  be  permanent
 unless  the employer certifies in writing that the employee will be able
 to return to his or her prior position upon conclusion of the strike, in
 the event the strike terminates prior to the conclusion of  the  employ-
 ee's eligibility for benefit rights under this chapter. In the event the
 employer  does  not  permit  such  return  after such certification, the
 employee shall be entitled to recover any benefits lost as a  result  of
 the [one] TWO week suspension of benefits, and the department may impose
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD14860-01-0

 S. 7310                             2
 
 a  penalty  upon  the  employer of up to seven hundred fifty dollars per
 employee per week of benefits lost. The penalty collected shall be  paid
 into  the  unemployment  insurance  control fund established pursuant to
 section five hundred fifty-two-b of this article; or
   (ii) The commissioner determines that the claimant:
   (A)  is not employed by an employer that is involved in the industrial
 controversy that caused his or her unemployment and is not participating
 in the industrial controversy; or
   (B) is not in a bargaining unit involved in the industrial controversy
 that caused his or her unemployment and  is  not  participating  in  the
 industrial controversy.
   3.  Terms of suspension.  [The] NO waiting period may be served during
 a suspension period.
   The suspension of accumulation of benefit rights shall not  be  termi-
 nated  by subsequent employment of the claimant irrespective of when the
 claim is filed except as provided in subdivision one and  shall  not  be
 confined to a single benefit year.
   A  "week"  as  used in subdivision one of this section means any seven
 consecutive calendar days.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the  same  date  and  in  the  same
 manner  as a chapter of the laws of 2019 amending the labor law relating
 to decreasing the length of the suspension period applicable to  certain
 striking  workers who seek to obtain unemployment insurance benefits, as
 proposed in legislative bills numbers S.4573 and A.6592, takes effect.