Senator Samra Brouk Supports Legislation to Benefit Small Businesses and Workers in the 55th Senate District

ALBANY, NY - Senator Samra Brouk (SD-55) joins her Senate colleagues to advance a package of legislation to support small businesses, including bills that would protect small businesses from eviction and foreclosure, protect restaurants from third-party delivery fees, implement third-party restaurant posting requirements, promote the shared work eligibility program, freeze unemployment insurance rates, and establish a partial-unemployment system. This action builds on legislation passed in July 2020 to help hardworking New Yorkers and struggling small businesses. 

“Small businesses in our community are in a fight for their very survival. These small business owners have poured their heart, their soul, and often their life savings into their businesses. We cannot turn our backs on them now,” said Senator Samra Brouk (SD-55). “New York is committed to a just and equitable economic recovery that affords small businesses an equal chance of getting back on their feet.”

• Small Business Eviction and Foreclosure Moratorium: This bill S.471A establishes the COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Business Act to protect small businesses with COVID-19 related financial hardships from eviction and foreclosure until May 1. 
• Third-Party Restaurant Posting: This bill, S.1630 prohibits any third party food delivery platform from listing, selling or advertising products of any food service establishment without a written agreement with them.
• Restricting Third-Party Delivery Fees: This bill, S.1554 creates a maximum limit for the total fee that can be charged to a food service establishment by a third-party food delivery service (such as Grubhub, Seamless, Postmates, Doordash, etc.).
• Increased Outreach From DOL on the Shared Work Program: This bill, S.18A creates a requirement for the Department of Labor to increase their efforts to provide information to employers about shared work program eligibility and have information available on the Department's website. The shared work program can help reduce layoffs and is fully funded by the federal CARES Act during the pandemic.
• Freezing Employers Unemployment Insurance Premiums: This bill, S.1197 freezes New York State’s unemployment insurance experience rating for one year for layoffs and closures that occurred due to COVID-19. This action will prevent significant increases in costs to employers who have experienced higher unemployment rates in 2020. 
• Partial Unemployment Insurance: This bill, S.1042A establishes a system of partial-unemployment. This would shift the current calculation that any day of work leads to a 25% reduction in benefits, and instead would reduce benefits by an amount proportional with the amount earned. This legislation will help incentivize part-time work by reducing the disincentive that a day of work will lead to a disportionate reduction of benefits.