§ 336-f. Subsidized private sector and not-for-profit employment
programs. 1. A social services district may establish subsidized private
sector employment programs for public assistance recipients including,
but not limited to, grant diversion programs, which may be supported
wholly or in part with public assistance funds. Such programs shall be
established through agreements between local districts and employers,
including not for profit employers; provided, however, that, if
appropriate, the department may act on behalf of one or more local
districts in establishing such agreements.

2. Programs may include, but need not be limited to, on-the-job
training programs which reimburse employers for the cost of training
public assistance recipients through wage subsidies.

3. The social services official or the department is authorized to
transfer public assistance funds to employers through written agreements
developed and executed in accordance with department regulations.

4. A recipient may be placed in a subsidized private sector or
not-for-profit employment activity only if:

(a) the conditions of employment including such factors as the type of
work to be performed, the geographic location of the job, and the
qualifications of the participant are appropriate and reasonable.

(b) the recipient is deemed an employee for purposes of the applicable
collective bargaining and labor laws and receives the same benefits and
protections as an employee similarly situated (working a similar length
of time and doing similar work) receives pursuant to the provisions of
law, an applicable collective bargaining agreement or otherwise as made
available to the employees of the employer.

(c) no employee of the participating employer is displaced by any
recipient hired pursuant to this section. For the purpose of this
subdivision, the term displacement shall include partial displacement,
such as a reduction in the customary hours of work (including overtime),
wages, or employment benefits.

(d) no participant shall be hired:

(i) if any other employee of the employer is available for
reinstatement, recall or reemployment following a leave of absence,
furlough, layoff or suspension from the same or any substantially
equivalent job; or

(ii) when the employer has terminated the employment of any regular
employee or otherwise reduced its work force with the intention of
filling the vacancy or vacancies so created by hiring a participant
whose wages are subsidized under this program; or

(iii) when the employee organization representing employees of the
employer is engaged in a strike against the employer or such employees
have been locked-out by the employer; or

(iv) when such hiring will result in 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.

(e) no job is created that will infringe in any way upon the
promotional opportunities of current employees or individuals currently
engaged in an approved apprenticeship training program.

(f) no participant shall remain in a job if another employee is
eligible for promotion to that job. An employer shall, at least ten days
prior to filling a position with a participant, notify any employee
organization that represents employees who are engaged in similar work
or training in the same or substantially equivalent jobs as those in
which the placement is to be made, that it intends to make a placement
pursuant to the terms of this section.

(g) where an employee organization represents employees who are
engaged in similar work in the same or substantially equivalent jobs as
those proposed to be funded under this program, an opportunity is
provided for such organization to comment on the proposed placement of a
participant or the administration of the program and the social services
official or his or her designee shall respond to such comments within
ten days of receipt thereof.

(h) employers are prohibited from using public assistance funds to
encourage or discourage membership in, or participation in the
activities of, any employee organization and each employer provides to
the social services district assurances that no such funds will be used
for such purposes.

5. The social services district shall require every private or
not-for-profit employer that intends to hire one or more work activity
participants to certify to the district whether such employer has, in
the past five years, been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor the
underlying basis of which involved workplace safety and health or labor
standards. Such employer shall also certify as to all violations issued
by the department of labor within the past five years. The social
services official in the district in which the participant is placed
shall determine whether there is a pattern of convictions or violations
sufficient to render the potential employer ineligible. Employers who
submit false information under this section shall be subject to criminal
prosecution for filing a false instrument.