Relates to unemployment insurance benefits; unlawful hiring discrimination by employers, employment agencies and licensing agencies; repealer

Summary of bill provisions

Sections 1 through 30 amend various sections of Article 18 of the labor law, replacing the current system for determining eligibility for partial unemployment insurance benefits with a system that is based on the claimant's weekly earnings rather than the number of days the claimant worked during the week; establishes a system of calculating partial unemployment benefits that utilizes an income disregard and holds individuals harmless from liability under the previous system of calculating partial benefits.

Section 31 amends the executive law by adding a new section 296-c to prohibit discrimination of unemployed applicants in hiring.

Sections 32 through 34 amend various sections of the labor law to expand unemployment insurance coverage to teaching personnel of higher education institutions that are hired on a contingency basis.

Sections 35 and 36 amend various sections of the labor law to allow claimants to enroll in training programs without loss of eligibility to collect unemployment benefits.

Sections 37 through 43 amend various sections of the labor law to clarify eligibility of domestic violence survivors and agricultural workers.

Section 44 amends the labor law to reduce the waiting period for benefit eligibility of striking workers.

Section 45 sets forth the effective dates.

Justification

New York's unemployment insurance ("UI") program makes benefits available to workers who are totally unemployed or partially unemployed. However, the system of determining eligibility for partial UI benefits is often arbitrary and serves to deny or reduce UI benefits for many part-time workers, especially low-wage workers. The system's inequities also penalize workers for days of uncompensated work. This bill makes two important changes to the New York UI program in order to ensure that partially unemployed workers have meaningful access to UI benefits. The bill establishes a system for determining UI eligibility based on the claimant's weekly earnings and it establishes a system of calculating partial UI benefits that utilizes an income "disregard" that encourages UI claimants to accept part-time work.

Many of New York State's workers are victims of chronic unemployment. This bill will address one cause of chronic unemployment by prohibiting employer from discriminating against job applicants based on their current employment status.

Under current law, workers employed by institutions of higher education are excluded from eligibility for UI benefits if at the end of a semester the employer issues them a reasonable assurance of employment during the next semester. In the best case, these workers are left without wages from work or unemployment benefits during the time between semesters. In worst case scenarios workers without wages or benefits between semesters, are not rehired for the following semester and are then not eligible for benefits because they have not earned wages in the previous five weeks. This bill would expand coverage to certain educational personnel to address this inequity.

This bill would encourage claimants to enroll in job training programs, thereby increasing their chances of reemployment, without affecting their eligibility status.

This bill would clarify eligibility of some of the State's most vulnerable, agricultural workers and those claimants that due to domestic violence had no choice but to leave employment.

This bill would remove barriers to employees' constitutionally-protected collective bargaining rights by reducing the benefit waiting period for claimants that honor a strike.

Prior legislative history

None.

Fiscal implications

None to the state.

Effective date

Varied.