NY State Senate Bill 2021-S782

Senate Bill S782

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to the effect of payment for the use of vacation, holiday, personal or sick days on eligibility for unemployment benefits

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to labor
Jan 06, 2021	referred to labor

co-Sponsors

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Labor
Law Section:: Labor Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§591 & 598, Lab L
Versions Introduced in 2019-2020 Legislative Session:: S8263

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides that payment for the use of vacation, holiday, personal or sick days shall not affect eligibility for unemployment benefits.

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S782

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the labor law, in relation to eligibility for unemploy-
ment insurance during a state of emergency

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To specify that the payment of severance, holiday, sick days, personal
days or any other form of dismissal pay will not disqualify an employee
from receiving unemployment benefits, nor reduce the amount of those
benefits during a declared state-of-emergency.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill amends section 591 of the Labor Law by adding a new paragraph.

Section 1 of the bill clarifies that any use of payment for vacation,
personal or sick days pursuant to an agreement made by an employee or

employee's union and the employer will not disqualify a claimant from
unemployment benefits, nor will it delay the payment of benefits or
reduce the benefit amount to which a claimant would otherwise be enti-
tled.

Section 2 of the bill amends section 591 of the Labor Law to clarify
that the above provision will take effect during any weeks in which the
payment of dismissal pay is made pursuant to an above-referenced agree-
ment during a declared state-of-emergency.

Section 3 of the bill amends section 598 of the Labor Law to clarify
that any agreement made between a claimant or the claimants union and
the employer for remuneration due to worksite closure will not prevent a
claimant for unemployment benefits eligibility.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

As job losses and unemployment mount in the face of the state's response
to the covid-19 pandemic, many employees are experiencing severe work
stoppages, sporadic schedules and infrequent work hours.

This is particularly true of employees in the hospitality industry, as
well as in certain sectors of retail that have been deemed "essential."
Many employees or their unions have worked with employers to negotiate
agreements around workplace closures or severely reduced scheduling, and
many of these agreements have involved employers giving employees access
to holiday or vacation pay as a means of remuneration when work is not
available. Current state law dictates that employees receiving sepa-
ration pay are not eligible for unemployment benefits, or that unemploy-
ment benefit amounts are reduced to reflect that dismissal pay. This
bill creates a provision stating that during a declared state of emer-
gency where a worksite has been closed down or work has been severely
reduced these sorts of negotiated agreements will not disqualify claim-
ants from unemployment or reduce their amount. For employers and employ-
ees that have worked together to creatively maintain workforce and
payroll and collectively face the current economic crisis together, it
will ensure that those employees gain access to much-needed unemployment
benefits for the days and weeks they are not working.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2020: S8263 - Referred to Labor

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    782
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  GOUNARDES,  BIAGGI, BROOKS, GAUGHRAN, LIU -- 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 eligibility for unemploy-
   ment insurance during a state of emergency

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 591 of the labor
 law, as amended by chapter 794 of the laws of 1963, is amended and a new
 paragraph (e) is added to read as follows:
   (a) [No] EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH (E) OF THIS  SUBDIVISION,  NO
 benefits  shall be payable to a claimant for any day during a paid vaca-
 tion period, or for a paid holiday, nor shall any such day be considered
 a day of total unemployment under section  five  hundred  twenty-two  of
 this article.
   (E) THE USE OF OR PAYMENT FOR VACATION, INCLUDING HOLIDAYS, SICK DAYS,
 AND  PERSONAL  DAYS  PURSUANT TO AN AGREEMENT BY A CLAIMANT OR BY CLAIM-
 ANT'S UNION OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE RELATING TO A STATE OF EMERGENCY, AS
 DECLARED BY THE GOVERNOR, SHALL NOT RENDER A  CLAIMANT  UNAVAILABLE  FOR
 EMPLOYMENT,  AFFECT  THE DETERMINATION AS TO DAYS OF TOTAL UNEMPLOYMENT,
 OR OTHERWISE DISQUALIFY A CLAIMANT FOR,  DELAY  RECEIPT  OF,  OR  REDUCE
 AMOUNTS OF, UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.
   §  2.  Paragraph (d) of subdivision 6 of section 591 of the labor law,
 as added by section 13 of part O of chapter 57 of the laws of  2013,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   (d)  Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this subdivision
 shall not apply during  any  weeks  in  which  the  initial  payment  of
 dismissal  pay  is  made  more than thirty days from the last day of the
 claimant's employment; NOR SHALL  THE  PROVISIONS  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION
 APPLY  DURING  ANY  WEEKS  IN WHICH THE PAYMENT OF DISMISSAL PAY IS MADE
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03211-01-1

 S. 782                              2
 
 PURSUANT TO AN AGREEMENT BY THE CLAIMANT OR BY THE CLAIMANT'S  UNION  OR
 OTHER REPRESENTATIVE RELATING TO A STATE OF EMERGENCY AS DECLARED BY THE
 GOVERNOR.
   § 3. Section 598 of the labor law, as added by chapter 475 of the laws
 of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
   §  598. Effect of payments for failure to provide notice of a facility
 closure. Payments to an employee under article  [twenty-five-a]  TWENTY-
 FIVE-A  of  this  chapter  by  an employer who has failed to provide the
 advance notice of a facility closure required by  such  article  or  the
 federal  Worker  Adjustment  and  Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C.
 Sec. 1201 et seq.)  or amendments thereto; OR PURSUANT TO  AN  AGREEMENT
 BY  THE CLAIMANT OR CLAIMANT'S UNION OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE FOR FAILURE
 TO PROVIDE ADVANCE NOTICE OF FACILITY,  DEPARTMENT,  OR  PLANT  CLOSURE,
 LAYOFF,  SCHEDULE  CHANGE,  OR  TERMINATION,  shall  not be construed as
 remuneration under this article. Unemployment insurance benefits may not
 be denied or reduced because of the receipt of payments  related  to  an
 employer's  violation  of  article [twenty-five-a] TWENTY-FIVE-A of this
 chapter or the federal Worker  Adjustment  and  Retraining  Notification
 Act; OR AN AGREEMENT BY THE CLAIMANT OR CLAIMANT'S UNION OR OTHER REPRE-
 SENTATIVE FOR FAILURE TO PROVIDE ADVANCE NOTICE OF FACILITY, DEPARTMENT,
 OR PLANT CLOSURE, LAYOFF, SCHEDULE CHANGE, OR TERMINATION.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S782

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Sponsored By

Andrew Gounardes

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

co-Sponsors

Alessandra Biaggi

John E. Brooks

James Gaughran

John C. Liu

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S782 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments