S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4476
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 5, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- 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 decreasing 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 chapter 20 of the laws  of  2020,  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 [two consecutive weeks]
 ONE WEEK beginning with the day after such claimant lost  [his  or  her]
 THEIR  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 claim-
 ant, and other concerted activity conducted in violation of any existing
 collective  bargaining  agreement,  in the establishment in which [he or
 she] SUCH CLAIMANT was employed, except that benefit rights may be accu-
 mulated before the expiration of such [two] ONE  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] SUCH EMPLOYEE'S prior position upon conclusion
 of  the  strike, in the event the strike terminates prior to the conclu-
 sion of the employee's eligibility for benefit rights under  this  chap-
 ter.  In  the  event the employer does not permit such return after such
 certification, the employee shall be entitled to  recover  any  benefits
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD07531-01-5
              

 S. 4476                             2
 
 lost  as  a result of the [two] ONE week suspension of benefits, and the
 department may impose 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  arti-
 cle; 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] SUCH CLAIMANT'S 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] SUCH CLAIMANT'S unemployment and is not partic-
 ipating in the industrial controversy.
   3. Terms of suspension. [No] THE waiting period [may]  AND  SUSPENSION
 PERIOD SHALL be served [during a suspension period] CONCURRENTLY.
   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 OF THIS SECTION 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 immediately.