§ 336-c. Work experience. 1. (a) Work experience programs meeting
state and federal requirements may be established by social services
districts.

(b) Work experience programs may include the performance of work for a
federal office or agency, county, city, village or town or for the state
or in the operation of or in an activity of a nonprofit agency or
institution, in accordance with the regulations of the department.

2. A recipient may be assigned to participate in such work experience
program only if:

(a) appropriate federal and state standards of health, safety and
other work conditions are maintained;

(b) The number of hours a participant in work experience activities
authorized pursuant to this section shall be required to work in such
assignment shall not exceed a number which equals the amount of
assistance payable with respect to such individual (inclusive of the
value of food stamps received by such individual, if any) divided by the
higher of (a) the federal minimum wage provided that such hours shall be
limited as set forth in subdivision four of section three hundred
thirty-six of this title, or (b) the state minimum wage;

(c) such recipients are provided appropriate workers' compensation or
equivalent protection for on-the-job injuries and tort claims protection
on the same basis, but not necessarily at the same benefit level, as
they are provided to other persons in the same or similar positions,
while participating in work experience activities under this section;

(d) the project to which the participant is assigned serves a useful
public purpose in fields such as health, social services, environmental
protection, education, urban and rural development and redevelopment,
welfare, recreation, operation of public facilities, public safety, and
child day care;

(e) such assignment would not result in (i) the displacement of any
currently employed worker or loss of position (including partial
displacement such as reduction in the hours of non-overtime work, wages
or employment benefits) or result in the impairment of existing
contracts for services or collective bargaining agreements; (ii) the
employment or assignment of a participant or the filling of a position
when any other person is on layoff from the same or any equivalent
position or the employer has terminated the employment of any regular
employee or otherwise reduced its workforce with the effect of filling
the vacancy so created with a participant assigned pursuant to this
section; (iii) any infringement of the promotional opportunities of any
current employed person; or (iv) the performance, by such participant,
of a substantial portion of the work ordinarily and actually performed
by regular employees; or (v) the loss of a bargaining unit position as a
result of work experience participants performing, in part or in whole,
the work normally performed by the employee in such position;

(f) such assignment is not at any work site at which the regular
employees are on a legal strike against the employer or are being
subjected to lock out by the employer.

3. The public employer shall publish on a monthly basis a report
summarizing the employer's work experience program for the month. Such
monthly report shall include, at a minimum, summary information
regarding the agencies or departments where participants are assigned,
work locations, job duties and assignments, hours worked and period
worked and shall be provided to the certified collective bargaining
representative and may not be disclosed to any other party. Such
certified collective bargaining representative shall take reasonable
steps to protect the confidentiality of such information and shall take
reasonable steps to prevent disclosure of same to non-authorized
persons. Every report provided pursuant to this section shall contain a
warning against re-disclosure and asserting the confidentiality of the
information therein provided.

4. In assigning a recipient who is a non-graduate student attending
CUNY, SUNY or other approved non-profit education, training or
vocational rehabilitation agency, the social services district must,
after consultation with officials of CUNY, SUNY or other non-profit
education, training or vocational rehabilitation agency, assign the
student to a work site on campus, where the recipient is enrolled, and
shall not unreasonably assign the student to hours that conflict with
the student's academic schedule, if an approved work experience
assignment is available. Where such work experience assignment is not
available, the social services district shall, to the extent possible,
assign the student to a work site within reasonable proximity to the
campus where the recipient is enrolled and shall not unreasonably assign
the student to hours that conflict with the student's academic schedule.
Provided, however, in order to qualify for a work experience assignment
on-campus, or in close proximity to campus, a student must have a
cumulative C average, or its equivalent. The district may waive the
requirement that the student have a cumulative C average or its
equivalent for undue hardship based on: (i) the death of a relative of
the student; (ii) the personal injury or illness of the student; or
(iii) other extenuating circumstances.